The Infinite Loops - Pokemon Loops
by OathToOblivion
Summary: Yet another branch of the Infinite Loops inspired by Innortal and Saphroneth. Let's see the hijinks the Loopers from the World of Pokemon get into, shall we?
1. Chapter 1

This is yet another segment of the Infinite Loops; this time for Pokémon.

One person in a Loop, often the main character, is an Anchor. They are the person who first starts time looping.

There is always at least one Anchor present in a given Time Loop snippet, though it may not be the local one.

The standard pattern for a loop is that the Anchor (and whoever else is Looping there) come to awareness in a loop at a particular point in the story. From there, events will play out as influenced by the Loopers present, acting with the benefit of their foreknowledge, until either a predetermined end point is reached or all the Loopers have copped it.

To be Awake is to be aware of the time loops (that is, to have gone back in time _this_ time.)

The Anchor is the only character guaranteed to be Awake. Even after others have started looping, it is mostly random as to whether they will be Awake this particular loop.

Crossovers, fusions, and alternate pasts can also take place. It is perfectly possible, for example, to have the characters Awaken into a loop which conforms to a fanfic universe rather than reality.

Loops do not have to be in chronological order, but it is strongly preferred that they not require a mutually contradictory order (where A must be before B _and_ B must be before A.)  
Just about every Looper is very, very stir crazy.

While the exact details are being discussed, there are currently three separate Pokémon Loops.

The Anime: Anchor is Ash's Pikachu, with most frequent Loopers being Ash and Company

Pokemon Special, the Manga: Anchor is Red, with most frequent Loopers being his friends and Pokemon, specifically his Pikachu, Pika.

Mystery Dungeon: A series of Linked Loops, with the Partners being the Anchors rather than the main character.

To contribute, please come here: forums. spacebattles. threads/the-infinite-loops-pokemon-loops.286471/ (remove the spaces between the pieces of the URL Note: put a com/ after spacebattles)

* * *

1.1 (Crisis)

Flash Ketchum grinned as the Pikachu revealed from Professor Oak's last Pokéball blinked and looked around in total confusion. _'Hah! Let's see how Ash handles being in _my_ place for a Loop!'_

And then he was zapped with electricity.

_'Okay,'_ the human who was normally a Pikachu in the Loops thought as he smoldered and fell over, _'that really _does_ hurt, doesn't it?'_

* * *

1.2 (LordCirce)

Brock waved as Ash and Pikachu entered his gym. "Hey, how are you doing today?"

Ash and Pikachu gave double thumbs up. "Wide-Awake and ready for action."

Brock laughed as he walked over. That little song and dance was their way of signalling that they were all Awake. "So, last I saw you was the Loop through the, uh, Hub, right? Did you manage to find all of the games you were looking for?"

Ash laughed awkwardly. "Sort of. I got all of them except one." He pulled a half-melted game case from his subspace pocket. Brock could just make out the words "He~ ~~~ Pika~~~" in the title. "Pikachu kind of took exception with this game." On Ash's shoulder, Pikachu growled lightly at the offending game case.

Brock smiled. "Got to say, you looked pretty good as a human, 'Peter'. Did you pick up anything in the Hub?"

Pikachu grinned, before pulling a massive bottle of Ketchup out of his subspace pocket. Brock blinked, before glancing at Ash.

Ash rolled his eyes. "Pikachu discovered the joys of (Pick one: Costco/ 92 oz. containers) and buying in bulk."

* * *

1.3 (LordCirce)

Pikachu stared at his claw, while in the background, some loud human that was supposed to be his trainer berated him about not battling hard enough. Internally, he scoffed. '_I have battled legends that would make you soil yourself. Face off against the Dragon of Thunder, and then speak to me of who is the inferior battler.'_

Still, he was certainly not up to battling any dragons at the moment, though he appeared to actually be one for this Loop-Time. It appeared that he was replacing the angry Charmander that Ash adopted in most Loops. That would have been no problem, in fact, he was rather looking forward to gaining the wings of this form and flying, but he _couldn't reach his lightning!_

It was there, but it was just beyond his reach. He could feel it, the familiar crackling of the storm, but this body would not channel the energy properly. The flame that burned in his belly now interfered, rising up every time he tried to access the lightning that was his to command.

A shadow fell over him, and he glanced upwards. It was his human, Ash, and...him. A Pikachu, bearing his markings and, from what this ugly reptilian nose could tell, his scent, sitting there, looking down at him, vacantly. Pikachu frowned slightly, then payed attention to the babble that Ash was telling him.

"...tle guy. Just come with us, and we will get you nice and warm. Ok?" Pikachu sniffed, then stood upright, wobbling slightly. The balance of this body was very odd, the tail played a much larger role in balancing him than he was used to. With a short jump, he caught hold of the lining of Ash's jacket and climbed up to his shoulder. He supposed he could share his rightful place with his Unawake self, but he would not give it up entirely. Ash didn't move immediately after, but quickly straightened up and turned towards the other two, Brock and Misty.

"I guess that's a yes."

Ash knelt in front of him as they sat in the Pokemon Center. Pikachu was focusing on his claws, as so far he had had the most success in channeling his lightning through the tips of the claws. Well, there had been a bit of success with his teeth, but he hadn't been able to get it to go anywhere, and had shocked his tongue.

"Charmander, or, I guess, Charizard. Is that you?" Pikachu glanced up. Oh, that was right, he hadn't let Ash know that it was him in here. Pikachu shook his head, then pointed at his Unawake self that was dozing on the bed. He pointed back and forth for a little bit, then tried to channel a bit of his lightning to his claws. A few sparks danced between them, pretty, but utterly insignificant compared to the levels he had once possessed.

Ash blinked for a second, then, in an odd tone of voice, "Pikachu?"

Pikachu nodded sharply. He had felt a bit more of a surge, but it was still being diverted away at the last moment. Pikachu contemplated this, before Ash spoke up.

"Your tail started crackling when you were shooting sparks from your claws." Pikachu glanced up, then turned to look at the burning tip of his tail. He called up the lightning, and, sure enough, small sparks started dancing among the flames. Among the flames. Hmm, that had some potential.

* * *

1.4 (Inkweaver22)

Ash sent out Pikachu against Erika's Gloom.

"You know Electric types aren't very effective against Grass." The gym leader taunted. Ash and Pikachu just grinned evilly.

"Use Fire Blast!" The trainer called out. The electric rodent gladly complied.

"That wasn't very fair." Misty said in amusement as they walked away from the slightly scorched gym. The pair simply smirked.

"Yeah well, ganging up on a ten year old boy for having an opinion as well as simply being a boy isn't very fair either."

* * *

1.5 (Crisis)

"Ketchum-ketch," Ash shook his head in exasperation.

"Oh, that's easy for you to say!" Pikachu retorted. "It's not like _you're_ the one always getting kidnapped by Team Rocket!"

Misty desperately tried to rub away her perpetual migraine. She was certain these two were messing with her, but she couldn't prove it!

* * *

1.6 (Jcogginsa)

This Loop was fun, Rock thought to himself. It was a Fused Loop, although he hadn't found any other Loopers yet, though Unawake versions of Roll and Blues were present. He recognized the setting well enough. One of the fringe benefits of his weapon copying system was that he could copy gaming consoles and play games entirely within his own head. That's how Rock knew that Bulbasaur would be the best choice for his Pokémon journey. A long time fighting Wily's robots had made him well-suited to playing Elemental Rock Paper Scissors. This was Kanto, so Bulbasaur's Grass and Poison Typing would give him the best coverage for the 8 gyms.

Speaking of the gyms, he'd just arrived at the Pewter City Gym. Inside was a single Youngster, and in the back, Brock. Rock prepared himself to battle the Youngster, but Brock spoke up.

"Kid, let him pass. I can tell he's tough."

"Really? If you say so, Brock…" said the slightly disappointed Youngster.

When Rock was close enough, he said to Brock "You're a Looper, aren't you?"

Brock grinned. "Guilty."

"Are you the Anchor? Wouldn't have suspected that…"

"Nah, My friend Ash's Pikachu is the Anchor, but if you haven't met him yet then you probably won't. This isn't even our baseline, it's just a variant."

Rock looked confused. "Ash? I don't remember him from the games."

"Games?" Brock said, but then realized "Oh! You must have played those handheld games; played a few myself during a hub loop. Our baseline is the Anime."

"Oh, never watched that, sorry."

"No problem. Still, you might wanna give it a look in your next Hub Loop. Read the manga too; I hear there's another Loop with one of them as a baseline."

"I'll keep it in mind. Is there anyone else Awake?"

"None on our end, I checked. If you want, I'll keep to the standard course of events so you can enjoy yourself."

"Sounds fun. Since we're sticking with the normal course, I suppose it's time to battle." Rock said with a grin.

* * *

1.7 (LordCirce)

Pikachu sat under a tree as he watched the Trainer that was replacing Ash. It looked rather like Ash, but a lot more...spastic.

Technically, Pikachu had been released shortly after they had passed Pewter. Apparently, this trainer goes crazy at the sight of computers, pounding on keys and shouting "B B Back Out We Lose PRAISE THE HELIX". In the confusion, he had somehow smashed Pikachu's pokeball and that of the Spearow that he had somehow managed to catch, leaving him with a Magikarp he bought off a salesman, the Butterfree he used to beat Brock, and a Nidoran Female that he had ran into and dropped a Pokeball on. Pikachu had decided to stick around watching to make sure that the Trainer didn't die from his stupidity. That and it was frankly hilarious to watch. Pikachu popped an Oran berry out of his subspace pocket and fried it with a jolt. He took a bite while a few feet away, the trainer ran into the wall next to the Mt. Moon cave entrance for the sixth time.

"Anarchy Left Left B Start Down Up SAVING!"

* * *

1.8 (KR-Nexus)

_'Paperwork is _EVIL_'_ That was what the Raikage, P, thought at the moment.

_'Being a Kage is fun, he said; you get to kick lots of ass, he said'_ P, also known as Ash's Pikachu was fuming while doing all the paperwork his secretary had given him that morning. _'I _swear_ that this thing multiplies itself when I am not looking at it...It's official; I am going to shock Naruto to kingdom come next time I see him!'_

While planning his revenge on a certain orange-wearing shinobi, his secretary entered the office with a pile of papers as high as half her stature.  
"Raikage-sama, here is the work for this afternoon."

* * *

1.9 (zeusdemigod131)

Pikachu "Woke Up".

...Not that he could actually wake up from his current position. Pikachu quickly realized that he was inside a Pokéball.

"_What the heck?"_ He thought to himself; it had happened several times before. Pikachu had been with Ash, his trainer, in the Kalos region, and then he woke up in his Pokéball back at Professor Oak's lab.

The first time he thought it was just a dream, and had gone along with it, reliving every adventure he and Ash had gone on together.

The second time... he got worried. Ash didn't remember anything and neither did anyone else. That time Pikachu had tried to make everything go as smoothly as possible, but that ended up with Ash never meeting Misty, May and Dawn, as well as half of his Pokémon.

After that, Pikachu realized that the world reset every single time. So, he had attempted to right the entire thing by leaving the lab the night before Ash showed up and tracking down Celebi. He couldn't find the legendary anywhere.

Pikachu was now on his tenth repeat. He sighed and waited; when everything reset itself, he ended up in his Pokéball the night before Ash came to get him. Several times, he had broken himself out and waited for him but this time he just waited.

As Pikachu began to consider what to do this time, other than trying to make Ash a Pokémon Master (he had only done that once before and it was more luck than anything) he was suddenly engulfed in a blinding white light.

"Pika?" He looked around and saw that he was still in Oak's lab, but it was dark, a little past midnight actually, then next thing he noticed was the human boy kneeling in front of him.

"Pikachu?" Ash asked. "Do you remember me, buddy?"

Pikachu was shocked for a moment. _"Ash?"_ He whispered to himself before jumping into his Trainer's arms.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried happily, hugging his partner. After a moment the pair calmed down. "Pikachu, do you have any idea what's going on here?"

"Pika, pika pi, Pikachu pika!" Pikachu waited, the facepalmed. _"Maybe I can get Mewith to join our team... again."_

* * *

1.10 (jkz)

Ash was really tired of Giovanni. The "I'll capture Meloetta and then the world, if I don't turn crazy first for the powers of this mirror" thing was becoming really boring. And he knew Pikachu was feeling the same.

"Ok, Pikachu. Do you have it?" the trainer asked his Anchor.

His Pokémon nodded, and retrieved a Master Ball from his Pocket. "Sure you want to do this?" he asked.

"Look, if we do this, we won't have to worry about him until next reset." Ash explained.

Pikachu sighed. "Ok, if you insist..."

"Ah, welcome to my humble Gym." Giovanni said. "I think you are here for a battle, aren't you?"

"Well... I'm here to catch the boss of Team Rocket." Ash said. Without waiting for the leader of the gym to react, he threw the Master Ball at him.

It opened, and it caught him.

Pikachu looked in awe. "Wow... Whatever they pay Dell, It's not enough. That worked so well."

"First, he destroys robots for a living, and has a lot of money for that." Ash said. "Second, if someone could do this, it was either him, Light, or Apple Bloom. And he was the only available."

"But what are we going to do with him?" The electric Pokémon asked.

"Well..."

"Go, Giovanni!"

With a flash of light, the boss of the "Kanto Mafia" appeared. He looked at his surroundings. He was in a cave with red crystals, and the kid that had... caught him... was running away?

That was when he saw the amorphous blobs behind him.

"Why didn't I just ran away from home when I was a kid?" were his thoughts before being eaten by the Tree of Life's WBCs.

* * *

1.1 – Guess the grass is greener on the other side, eh Pikachu?

1.2 – Pikachu/Ketchup; the True OTP of Pokémon.

1.3 – Pikachu's first time Looping as a Pokémon outside of his Type.

1.4 – And here we see that he put his experience as a Charizard to good use.

1.5 – If Pokémon can learn to speak human, why can't humans learn to speak Pokémon?

1.6 – Mega Man: Fire Red Version.

1.7 – Twitch Plays Pokémon Red. 'Nuff said.

1.8 – And thus, Pikachu gets suckered into accepting the bane of all bureaucrats in existence.

1.9 – Ash's first Loop as well as when Pikachu learned he WASN'T going crazy. What kind of lazy Admin do they have anyway?

1.10 – Dell Conagher, AKA the Engineer from Team Fortress 2.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, since last chapter, we've clarified some stuff over on the forum. As it turns out, while the Mystery Dungeon Loops are still Linked Loops, the Player Characters are the Anchor, not the Partners. So sorry about that!

* * *

2.1 (Jcogginsa)

Boulder. Cascade. Thunder.

Rock's Bulbasaur, now an Ivysaur, had netted him all of those badges so far. However, Rock could see that relying solely on him was exhausting the Pokémon. He knew he should have caught another Pokémon sooner, but Bulbasaur had worked his way into his heart so quickly, faster than Rock had anticipated. He just hadn't wanted to battle with anyone other than Bulbasaur. Fortunately, he was near Celadon now, and he knew there were quite a few ways for him to get Pokémon there without taxing Bulbasaur.

"We finally meet," Giovanni said, as Rock strode into his room underneath the Celadon Game Corner.

"Were you expecting me?" Rock asked.

"It wasn't exactly an unlikely scenario. You've spent a few days here, training up your Pokémon. Ivysaur, Porygon, Grimer, and Eevee. We've been watching you. Plus, there was the matter of your frequent visits, and your habit of glancing at the poster that hid the activation button for our facility."

"You certainly are observant. So if you thought I was coming, why not take me out pre-emptively?"

"I wanted you to come. After the embarrassing job my men in Mt. Moon did fighting you, I wanted to see if the men here could do better. Sadly, they proved just as incompetent. Unfortunately, your journey now comes to an end, for I am far from incompetent, if I do say so myself."

"We'll see. Grimer, I choose you!"

"Hmm, interesting choice. Unfortunately, I specialize in the Ground type. Your Grimer will fall. Go, Onix."

Onix emerged from his pokeball, its horn scraping against the ceiling as it towered over Grimer.

"Crush him. Rage." The Onix roared and dove down towards Grimer.

"Grimer, evade it with Minimize!" Rock ordered. Onix crashed into the floor as Grimer shrank.

"Hmmph. Onix, bury it. Rock Throw." Onix slid its tail forward, hurling stone around the room at the Grimer. Grimer's tiny size allowed it to evade the rocks for the moment.

"Grimer, Disable then Poison Gas!" called out Rock.

Giovanni stepped back, covering his mouth and nose with his hand. "It's useless. Your Poison Gas is but a minor annoyance. Onix, continue attacking with Rage." He smirked through the haze at Rock. "Your gas is only feeding Onix's rage. One strike is all it will take to squash your Grimer."

"Grimer, Use Minimize again!" Rock ordered. Grimer shrank down even smaller. Onix continued to slam his head around, breaking up the floor of the office and disrupting the lingering Poison Gas. Dust joined the gas in floating around, obscuring the battlefield. However, he still failed to strike Grimer.

"Hmm. Continue the attack. Rage." At this point, Onix was beginning to show some signs that the poison gas was affecting him, despite his Ground typing. However, it was still energetic, and dove back to smashing the ground, trying to strike the elusive Grimer.

"Grimer, Disable once more!" Rock ordered

Giovanni clicked his tongue, then grinned.

"Onix, return. Rhyhorn, Stomp." Onix roared, before vanishing in a burst of red light. Rhyhorn appeared, landing with a heavy shake before it charged forward, stomping on the ground as it charged forward through the dust.

"You best prepare your next Pokémon. Minimized Pokémon don't deal too well with being Stomped on."

Rock smirked, and shouted "Grimer, use Giga Drain!'

"What?!" Giovanni roared as Rhyhorn staggered, its energy rapidly draining into Grimer. "Grr, take it down with you. Stomp on it!" Rhyhorn charged forward weakly, following the green glow of the Giga Drain. It stomped down on the Grimer, before toppling to the side, unable to continue.

Rock smirked as he recalled his Grimer "I fainted one of your pokemon, and poisoned another. Looks like I'm winning here"

"Hmph, don't be so sure. Onix, go. Your Disabling is no longer in effect, and none of your other Pokemon can learn it."

"I'm no one trick Ponyta, Giovanni! Go, Porygon!"

"Hmm. You think I don't know what Porygon are capable of? You bought that from me. Onix, crush it with Bind."

"Porygon, use Sunny Day while you're bound!" Rock called out.

"Hmm, so, you taught it Solar Beam." Giovanni laughed, catching on immediately. "Don't act surprised. As I say, I know all that Porygon is capable of. Onix, Harden yourself, and then crush down on it in Rage."

"Well, you're smart, I'll give you that. But you forget, Solar Beam is a special type move! Porygon, Solar Beam!" Rock shouted back

Onix roared as he was trapped in the beam of light. Slowly, it teetered before falling down towards Porygon.

"Hardly, it just makes it a harder hammer. Even unconscious, Onix is my weapon."

Rock simply used his pokeball to recall Porygon before he was hurt. "Simple solutions are sometimes grand."

Giovanni frowned. "Indeed." He likewise returned Onix from where he had fallen. He glanced down at the last pokeball on his belt. "It is a pity that I do not have my true team with me for this. But my last pokemon should suffice."

"Let me guess, a Kanghaskhan?" Rock smirked, knowing that thanks to his many playthroughs of the game.

Giovanni paused, then frowned. "How did you...?"

"Trade secret. Go, Ivysaur" Rock said with a grin.

Giovanni scowled. "It appears that I may need to weed my organization for moles. You knew of the switch, Kangaskhan. Hmm, or perhaps, you are just attempting to Fake me Out!"

Kangaskhan burst out of her pokeball, charging forward with a bone-chilling roar as she executed a Fake Out attack.

Rock swore mentally as his Ivysaur flinched.

Giovanni chuckled. "Now, feel the force of a Rocket-Raised Pokemon. Mega Punch!"

"Ivysaur, hit it with Stun Spore before it hits you!" Rock shouted

Giovanni growled as Kangaskhan froze, shudders wracking its body as it fought the paralysis. "Strike it! Mega Punch, Mega Punch! Don't allow some plant seeds to stop you!"

"Evade it the best you can and use Growth!"

Kangaskhan's fist came down, much too slow to strike the side-stepping Ivysaur.

"Useless. Bite it, hold it in place, then Mega Punch it!"

"Ivysaur, point blank Solarbeam!"

Giovanni swore as Kangaskhan was enveloped in solar light. He had forgotten about the Sunny Day that was still in effect, increasing the ambient lighting and allowing that Ivysaur to charge up its beam. Snarling, he returned Kangaskhan from where it had fallen, before he schooled his features into a calm mask.

"Hmm. Well, you certainly are skilled. I suppose that is the benefit of focusing on just a few Pokémon. You certainly have raised them well, I will admit. Still, it is obvious that you cannot hope to understand what Team Rocket seeks to achieve. I will step aside this time, but we will meet again."

Giovanni pressed a small button on the inside of his sleeve, causing a panel to slide open in the wall behind him. He quickly stepped back, before the panel slid back into place, cutting him from view.

* * *

2.2 (zeusdemigod131)

Misty's pencil clattered to the ground as she Woke up, taking in her surroundings she looked around the... classroom?

Misty was used to Waking up in Cerulean City, or at least near it, depending on how her relationship with her sisters was that Loop. Occasionally, she would Wake up somewhere else; Pallet Town whenever she and Ash switched places, Petalburg whenever she replaced May.

She had never Looped back to Trainer School before, and she didn't even recognize this place. Or the wheelchair bound man at the front of the classroom.

Misty took a deep breath and waited a moment as her Loop memories settled in. Her name was Misty Jackson and she was attending Yancy Academy with her twin brother Percy...

_'Right,'_ She thought to herself._ 'This is definitely one of those Fused Loop things Pikachu mentioned.'_

This idea was cemented when another piece of information, trivial in the memories but major to her, came through. "No Pokemon?" She whispered to herself. Ash and Pikachu had mentioned Worlds like this, and Misty had not been looking forward to visiting them.

"Is everything alright, Miss Jackson?"

Misty snapped to attention and looked up at her teacher. "Uhh, yeah Mr... Brunner, just a little... headache is all."

Mr. Brunner didn't seem convinced but didn't push the matter. Misty looked down at her desk and saw she was in the middle of a history test. She examined the questions for a moment before saying. "Where the heck is Greece?"

Misty walked dejectedly to her dorm room. She was certain she had failed that test; her Pre-Awake self hadn't studied all that much, so she only knew a few things about this Earth, compared to her own.

Upon further analysis of her Loop memories, she found that she was not only apparently a "Troubled Child", but she also had ADHD and dyslexia, and so did her brother. Misty sat down on her bed; thankfully she didn't have a roommate; and pulled her holocaster from her Subspace Pocket.

Ever since they had learned about subspace storage, each Looper had taken to storing at least one of the devices in theirs at all times. It made it a lot easier to tell who was Awake, as well as find any of their Pokemon who were Looping.

Misty switched on the device. "Hello?" She called, transmitting to all contacts. "Ash? Pikachu? Brock? May? Anyone?" The device offered naught but static. That confused her. "But if Pikachu isn't on, then who's the Anchor?"

There was a knock at her door and she quickly shoved the holocaster back in her Pocket. "Umm, come in?"

As the door opened Misty was greeted by her current twin, although the only thing similar about them was their eyes, both sea green.

"Hey, sis," Percy greeted with a smile. "Glad to see you're _Awake_."

Misty blinked once, she was confused at what he meant by that; it wasn't that late; until something clicked in her mind. "Are you a Looper?" She asked hopefully.

Percy sighed in relief. "Good, I hate it when I get Unawake new family members." He held out a hand to her. "Hi, I'm Percy Jackson, Anchor for the Last Olympian Loops."

Misty smiled and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you Percy, I'm Misty, just a uh, regular Looper."

"Where from?" Percy asked, sitting down on the bed beside his current sister.

"What do you mean?" Misty asked in confusion.

Percy's eyes widened. "Wow, wait, you mean you haven't visited the Hub yet?"

"Hub?"

Percy sighed. "Alright, I'm assuming you've had the "Welcome to the Multiverse" talk considering you aren't freaked out by a new World."

Misty nodded. "I wasn't personally Awake when our Anchor got it but yeah, Pikachu explained-"

"Pikachu?" Percy asked in surprise. "Little electric mouse Pokemon?"

Misty looked at Percy in confusion. "Yeah, but how do you know about Pokemon?"

Percy shook his head. "Can't believe you guys are actually Looping. Right, hang on a second."

Percy reached into his subspace pocket and pulled out two things; a box set of five books, the first being _The Lightning Thief_, and a DVD titled _Pokemon: The First Movie_.

Misty stared at the second as she recognized Mewtwo, Mew and Pikachu on the cover. "How the?"

Percy sighed. "Looks like I've got to explain the Hub now."

Misty tapped her chin as Percy finished explaining. "So let me get this straight; the "Hub" is a universe that contains data on every universe in the Loops, but in the form of fiction?"

"Yep," Percy said with a smile. "You guys are actually pretty popular; video games, TV shows, movies, mangas," His smile turned to a slight grimace. "Actually I'm kinda jealous; the books for this Loop are pretty good, but the movies," Percy shuddered. "I freakin' hate those Variants."

Misty giggled. "So," She began. "What's your Loop like?"

Percy smiled nervously and chuckled. "Nowhere near as peaceful as yours, I can tell ya that. We've got a Pantheon of Loop Aware gods who, due to something involving the River Styx and the Admins, can't interfere with the normal path of the Loop, a bunch of high powered baddies, mainly a currently shredded Titan and his brothers who want to destroy humanity, the first ever goddess who gets upset when we stop said Titans and tries to destroy the gods, occasionally another set of Loop Aware gods who are the same but different from our own, and sometimes an entirely different set of gods who don't get along with ours and a giant snake who tries to swallow the sun, and every monster from Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and... a lot of other mythologies who try to eat Half-Bloods."

Misty gaped at him. "Half-Blood?"

"Half human, half god, that's what we are, congrats on being the daughter of Poseidon."

Misty pulled her legs up to her chest. "And how long does this last?"

Percy tapped his chin. "Well one of us, or one of my friends, Nico or Thalia, has to reach sixteen, which is... four years for us; depending on when Thalia Wakes up a year to a few months. Nico's a bit tricker but about five to six years depending on how long he's been in the Lotus Casino."

"And that's when the Loop ends?" Misty asked.

Percy shrugged. "Sometimes, it can go about a year or two after when it includes the events surrounding Jason and Gaea."

Misty did some quick math. "So anywhere from just over two years to almost eight?"

Percy shook his head. "Nah, I at least have to reach sixteen; having Thalia choose to preserve Olympus just ends Kronos sooner."

Misty slumped.

"Unless my friend Luke is Awake, in which case we don't have to worry about anything until after our sixteenth birthday."

Misty jolted up. "Why didn't you say that in the first place?"

Percy shrugged. "You didn't ask."

Misty set up her bunk in Poseidon Cabin, grumbling to herself, after school had ended, which had taken a few weeks, Misty had met her current mother, the currently Unawake Sally Jackson, and her step father, whom she would have liked to feed to her Gyarados. Then, as Percy had warned her, they had been attacked by the Minotaur on their vacation, and then taken to Camp Half-Blood by the also currently Unawake Grover Underwood, Percy's Satyr friend.

Misty had been disappointed to hear that Luke Castellan, son of Hermes, was Unawake as well, and it seemed that so far only Percy's girlfriend Annabeth, and friend/rival Clarisse La Rue were Awake.

Fortunately they didn't have to travel to the Underworld this time because Percy, having had many Loops to hone his fighting abilities, had destroyed the Minotaur when it showed up, thus saving his mother, and caught Luke with Zeus' Master Bolt.

Luke had still managed to escape but not without a major dent being put in his plan, one that would only worsen when Annabeth used one of the Golden Fleece she had collected to expunge Thalia from the pine tree on Half-Blood Hill.

"So," Percy asked Misty as he hung a picture of himself, Grover, Annabeth, the centaur Chiron, who was also Mr. Brunner, Misty had learned, Luke, Clarisse, and a few others Misty didn't recognize including a young boy in an aviator outfit, a girl in a "Death To Barbie" T-shirt, and a one eyed boy whom Percy called Tyson. On the wall of his bunk. "We have about a week before the Fleece gets Thalia out, although I don't think she's Looping either, and then the rest of the summer, even if Thalia doesn't join the Hunters of Artemis, and I gotta warn you, her non-Looping self almost always does, we have until winter break before her next birthday."

"And?" Misty asked.

Percy smiled. "You're a Water Trainer, right?"

It wasn't the first time Misty was able to breath underwater; she'd looped as several Water-Type Pokemon. But it was the first time she could do it as a human.

"This is so COOL!" She cried as she swam.

Percy chuckled. "That's what everyone says."

Misty sighed from the deck of their ship as it sailed towards the Sea of Monsters. Percy had been correct about Thalia; the daughter of Zeus was now a member of the hunters of Artemis, and while they had managed to rescue Nico and his sister Bianca from their military academy early, the children of Hades weren't Awake either, not a surprise since Biacna hadn't even begun Looping yet.

Despite having freed Thalia with the Golden Fleece, Luke was still planning to get this Loop's version from Polyphemus' island, their spies in his army had assured them, although everyone was more than a little confused as to where a second Golden Fleece had come from.

As the ghostly vessel sailed towards the Sea of Monsters, Misty considered their situation. She, Percy, Annabeth, Clarisse, and her current half brother Tyson were all onboard, as it turned out Tyson was Awake this time but had been late getting to Camp Half-Blood.

Percy had told her that they usually took the entrance that involved them battling Scylla and Charybdis. Misty was not looking forward to facing them,especially since Percy said they almost never got past Charybdis unscratched.

So far the only thing Misty was finding positive about this Loop was being the daughter of Poseidon and all the water related perks. As it turned out while Misty could control water the same way Percy did she could also communicate with, and control, sea creatures much more easily than him.

She had heard several jokes from Clarisse where the daughter of Ares compared her to someone named Aquaman, although it was still unclear whether he was a Looper or what.

As the boat entered the strait between the two cliffs it veered to the left, everyone preparing to attack the monster with everything they had. For Misty, this was an enchanted bow she had obtained from camp and her power over water. As the Gym Leader prepared herself she saw the gaping maw of Charybdis open, revealing rows upon rows of spikey jagged, rock-like..pink and blue teeth.

Then the monster spoke, and, in a deep and gravelly voice, said. "Cor-so-la."

"I just don't know what went wrong." Luke Castellan said to himself as he sat in his prison cell on Mt. Olympus. He had just stolen the Golden Fleece from that idiotic Cyclops when the Jacksons and their little team had shown up, at first Luke hadn't been worried. Then a colossal pink and blue monstrosity with a mouth wider than the rest of its body had jumped out of the sea and swallowed his ship.

Happily chirping. "Cor!" As it did.

He had then been captured by the campers and taken to Olympus for trial, it had in all honesty been a pretty fair trial, he had even gotten to pick his lawyer. Of course Zeus was the judge.

"How did she even get Charybdis to listen to her?"

Misty sat on the back of her Pokemon-turned-ancient-Greek-monster and stared up at the sky. Corsola was Misty's third Pokemon to start Looping, after Togepi and Politoed. And she hadn't responded to Misty's message because, in her current form, she lacked arms.

It had taken some convincing to get Corsola permanent residence in the Long Island Sound but Percy had vouched for her.

After they had locked away Luke, his army had pretty much fallen apart and Kronos' coffin had been recovered, then thrown into Tartarus. Misty and the rest of the Loopers had spent the past three years in relative peace training at Camp Half-Blood and,in the case of Percy and Clarisse, engaging in their favorite vacation Loop activity, a prank war.

Now, at Misty and Percy's sixteenth birthday, the Loop was, in all likelihood, coming to an end. Percy had checked and since neither Jason nor Sadie, the anchors for their respective segments, were awake, the Egyptian and Roman gods weren't an issue.

"So," Annabeth asked from her place on Corsola's back. "What did you think of your first Fused Loop?"

After they imprisoned Luke Annabeth and Misty had begun talking more and trading notes on their Home Loops.

Misty looked at her blankly. "I think this just reassured my opinion that every Looper is crazy." She said with a laugh.

Annabeth smiled. "Just wait, when it comes to crazy, you haven't even scraped the surface."

* * *

2.3 (zeusdemigod131)

Misty Woke up in her bedroom in Cerulean City. She blinked once and waited as her Loop memories set in. This one wasn't that odd, she was the sole Gym Leader because her sisters had all left on a cruise, that seemed to come up a lot, and she hadn't even considered leaving.

After sending out a message on her holocaster she found that Pikachu, Ash,and May were all Awake. She arranged a meeting with them in a few months for when May could actually leave home, then went about her daily business, until a familiar face entered the gym.

"Wait, You're the Cerulean Gym Leader?" Gary Oak asked. "But I heard the Cerulean Gym Leaders were the most beautiful girls in Kanto."

Gary eyed Misty and then shrugged. "Whatever, lets just get this over with."

Misty didn't even look up, after she had met Gary later on in the baseline, she found his current self to be even more insufferable than ever.

"Hey, did ya hear me? Just send out a Pokemon already."

Misty gritted her teeth and clenched her fist, she felt a familiar pulling sensation in her gut.

"Come on! What are ya? St-PWAHHH!" Gary never finished his sentence as he was suddenly hit by the entirety of the Gym field. The poor boy was left unconscious plastered against on of the walls.

Misty looked down at her hands, staring in confusion for a moment, then she smiled, at this point, she could only think of one thing to say. "Sweet!"

* * *

2.4 (LordCirce)

Ash Awoke and quickly took stock. He wasn't in bed, so he probably wasn't late to get to Oak's Lab. And, he winced, he didn't have his cap, so this was probably not a Loop where he was a trainer. He was wearing some rather heavy clothes, a thick vest, and...a gun.

"Great, a military loop," Ash sighed before looking around. He sent out the ping as he took in the area around him. It was night, and he was on the wall of some sort of complex. Inside were several white buildings, lit up with spotlights, while outside was a dark forest. Ash turned to glance up and down the wall. There was another guard part way down the wall, but he was just staring out at the forest.

"Well this is exciting," Ash turned back to the forest just as both an answering ping and his Loop memories hit. This Loop was a Pokemon Loop after all, but not the kind he was used to. Trainers didn't seem to exist here, or at least, his Unawake self had never heard of them. This time around, Pokemon weren't the friendly creatures he was used to. Instead, they were monsters in almost every sense of the word, with many attacking humans at the slightest provocation.

The compound he was guarding was the Oak Pokemon Research Center. Professor Oak and several other scientists worked here to understand Pokemon and to find methods of controlling or fighting them. The gun Ash was wearing was one of their creations, designed to either stun Pokemon with a wave of energy, or fire off powerful, lethal bolts of force. Ash shuddered. He would lay low a bit and then try to find a way to slip off. This would definitely be a Vacation Loop; he didn't want to be party to killing any Pokemon if he could help it.

Just then, a bolt of lightning struck out from the forest, reminding him of the ping he had just received. It looked like Pikachu was nearby. Ash reached out, feeling out the faint Aura Bond they shared. Pikachu was in combat, Ash could feel the rush of adrenaline. But there was something off, Pikachu was annoyed at something. Very annoyed.

An alarm sounded in the compound, and several spotlights lit up along the walls. The center was going on high alert, as Electric type pokemon could reek havoc on the defenses of the compound, and the stunning power of the guns wasn't all that effective on Electrics. As the spotlights began to sweep across the forest, Ash glanced left and right along the wall again, before he slid over and down the side. Channeling a bit of Aura to his legs, he landed in a crouch at the bottom of the wall and took off running into the forest.

A minute or so later, Ash broke into the clearing where he could feel Pikachu fighting. The spotlights were still sweeping overhead, but they couldn't really pierce the canopy of the forest, just barely providing enough light for Ash to see by. The sight in the clearing, though, brought Ash up short, as did a stray bolt of lightning he had to dodge around.

Half a dozen Beedrill circled in the air, though a couple of them were limping in the air, the membranes of their wings scorched and pierced. These weren't the agile bees Ash was used to, these Beedrill were massively over-sized hornets, needles dripping venom at the end of each leg and a single, massive stinger on the end of their abdomen. The buzzed angrily as the circled around the center of the clearing, where a tall blonde woman stood, surrounded by three Pikachu. The Pikachu were large, and much more rat like than usual. Lightning crackled through their fur and shot off their tails to strike at the circling Beedrill. Two of the bugs fell to the assault, then the other four dove in.

Ash charged out of the bushes, training from several Loops allowing him to bring his gun up in a smooth motion. The crackling energy of the stun shot blasted out, picking one of the bugs out of the air. The remaining bugs broke off their charge in their confusion, spiraling up. That was their mistake. Each of the Pikachu lashed out, lightning firing off and frying the remaining Beedrill, who dropped to the earth. Then, the Pikachu turned towards Ash.

Ash paused as he stared at the Electric Mice, trying to figure out which was his partner. Just then, the woman spoke.

"Well, this is going to be a fun Loop." Ash turned towards her, his eyes widening. She was tall, maybe two or three inches taller than Ash, and she was wearing a pale blue sundress, which had obviously seen better days. The most striking thing was the yellow gemstone embedded in the center of her forehead, and the two matching stones on the back of each hand. Just as his eyes met her blue ones, she raised her arm. "Look out!"

Ash spun, to see another Beedrill come buzzing out of the trees. Ash brought his gun around, only to duck as the hairs on his neck stood on end. A bolt of lightning shot past him, skittering across the Beedrill. Ash twisted backwards, to see the last crackling sparks dispersing around the woman's hand. She turned to raise an eyebrow at him, and he felt a nudge across the Aura Bond. He grinned, slightly.

"Well, Pikachu. I have to say, you make a cute girl."

The retaliatory shock was worth it for the irritated look on her face.

* * *

2.5 (barryc100588)

Black looked at his DNA Splicers, and at the Tao Trio in front of him. "I wonder what would happen if I used the DNA Splicers to splice both Reshiram and Zekrom into Kyurem. Only one way to find out." He activated the Splicers and did just that. Both Reshiram and Zekrom started to merge into Kyurem, but then everything went wrong...

Black Woke up and looked around. He noticed the school and sighed. "Crap. Eiken."

* * *

2.6 (AbZHz101)

The ten year old boy looked at the three closed Pokeballs in front of him. He had no flipping clue what had happened. He had woken up expecting another day of Rescue Missions like usual, but to his surprise he was human! And his memory, which had been (voluntarily) wiped upon entering the Mystery Dungeon World, had returned! He was apparently originally called Terrence Fisher... though for some odd reason that didn't seem quite right... He was one of four children born in the same year and so they would all be receiving their Pokémon today. Looking over his choices, he waged an internal war while still trying to figure out what had happened... hadn't his wish to remain in that world been strong enough? Were his previous resets when he should have returned here? He didn't know.

But that wasn't the only thing on his mind. He knew that before him were three Pokeballs: one containing a Bulbasaur, one a Charmander, and one a Squirtle. He knew Squirtle and Charmander like the back of his... well like he remembered his shell... Did that mean that he should pick one of them? Though if he picked Squirtle, he might end up forcing it to use his style, which might not be the best option. Maybe Charmander then? Or would that be an insult to his friend, trying to replace him here? And really the same problems with Squirtle applied to Charmander... But all the same he just couldn't imagine any other Pokemon as his partner... except maybe Chikorita and that wasn't an option. So he released the Charmander from its ball... and stared as before him was a familiar face.

"{What? I don't... You remind me of somebody... Was that all a dream? Oh, right human, you can't understand me can you?}" Charmander, his partner in the Mystery Dungeon World, sighed. Tears started to form in the human's eyes. "{Well, anyway, I'm Charmander... I guess this means that we will be working together.}" Charmander held out a tiny hand, but was instead wrapped up in a hug and lifted off of his feet. The human was laughing, and Charmander didn't understand it at all. Unsure about quite what was going on, though he didn't really mind that much, Charmander allowed himself to be carried out of the lab.

While most children would have simply rushed out to start their journey, as Gary Oak did to the large crowd's applause, two friends were more than willing to simply find a patch of shade and catch up on what had happened. It had taken a while to convince Charmander that "Terrence" was "Squirtle," though through knowledge that he never could have had otherwise he had done it. Charmander was more doubtful that he had lived a similar sequence of events over and over multiple times, but was willing to listen. So then "Terrence" had mentioned some of the ideas he had come up with and the more spectacular backfires. It also helped both of them that "Terrence" could still understand Pokémon speech.

"{So what happened after you used Attract?}" Charmander asked, a slight hitch in his voice anticipating where the story might go.

"Well, you weren't affected. You were the only one though," the human replied. "The rest of them all stampeded by our team, picking me up as they went along. I swear I saw both a Miltank and a Tauros in that mob! They were trying to rip off my shell, even though it doesn't come off. They almost had it too, by the time you got there. I wasn't up for Rescue Missions for a while after that; too terrified to leave my house."

Charmander began rolling in laughter. That had been too much. His partner watched, torn between joining him or smacking him for laughing at his trauma. In the end he did neither; because the laughter had gotten the attention of one of the other trainers who had received their Pokémon that day, Ash Ketchum and his Pokémon, a Pikachu. "{And you said you spent until one month before the meteor hit in our base? Wouldn't that have been a bad idea? I mean then all your suitors would have known where to find you!}"

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, you were a lot more sympathetic before the reset. Besides, you also knew where to find me and you kind of left an impression of hell fire on all of them," the new trainer snapped.

"Loop Variant? Or did one of us do something different?" Ash asked the local Anchor.

"{Can't say for sure because I don't remember, but probably because I wasn't sure if you'd recover. As you have and I have no memory of any fear or negative consequence it seems hilarious!}" Charmander replied.

"Don't think so," Pikachu replied in a whisper. "I didn't Wake up early enough to change anything and this feels like a baseline... Hang on, do you think they're Loopers?" The experienced Looping pair re-evaluated the two in front of them. "Hang on for a minute, I'll ask." The Pokémon hopped off of Ash's shoulder and towards the still-laughing Charmander who by now was having a slight problem breathing. "{Hi, I'm Pikachu, and behind me is my Trainer, Ash,}" Pikachu introduced both himself and his partner. The Charmander stopped laughing to see who was talking to him. "{And this might sound strange, but have you been in situations where you feel like you're reliving the same events over and over again?}"

Still in a good mood from his Trainer's last story, Charmander decided to humor the Pikachu. "{Well, I haven't, though I do remember belonging in a world different than this one and have no idea how I got here,}" he replied, before gesturing to his partner. "{My Trainer though has had experiences like what you just described though. In our world we're founding members of the Rescue Team GoGetters!}" he finished proudly.

"That's a Lucario Rank Team," "Terrence" added.

Pikachu's eyes went wide and he started to grin from cheek to cheek. He waved Ash over and said, "Well, they're Loopers alright." Both Ash and Pikachu ignored the surprise from the pair. "It looks like this is their first Fused Loop and it's Charmander's first Loop Awake!"

"Any idea where they're from?" Ash asked. Pikachu nodded.

"Yep, they're a Lucario Rank Rescue Team. You can only become those in the first of the Mystery Dungeon series. Both because after Explorers, Lucario wasn't a Rank and Teams were Exploration instead of Rescue if I remember right," Pikachu said. "Which means they're local... This is awesome, I haven't met anyone from that series or been there yet! Though I suppose this means we have to give them the "Welcome to the Multiverse" talk." Ash started rummaging through his backpack, his current hiding space for his Subspace Pocket, for everything Pikachu preferred to have on hand for the presentation.

"{What's going on?}" Charmander asked, not sure what the two were talking about. His partner agreed, and silently bemoaned the fact that he wasn't a Pokémon and so didn't know how to defend himself as he was.

Ash stopped trawling his pack for slides and flashed a winning grin at the Fire Type. "Nothing much, we're just getting set up so we can explain some things."

The two inexperienced Loopers' eyes popped out of their skulls. "You can understand Pokémon?" "Terrence" asked stunned.

"Yep," Ash replied. "Kinda took a Loop off to do it, Pikachu's a good teacher. ...Now where did the laminated ones go?" He continued to shove his arms deeper into the bag, far beyond what the dimensions should have allowed. "Here they are!"

Pikachu smirked at Ash blatantly showing off. "Anyway..."

"Terrence" and Charmander followed Ash and Pikachu to the Pewter City Gym. The four Loopers were seemed to be the only ones Awake this Loop, possibly to give the Mystery Dungeon Natives a better idea of what a baseline Pokémon loop was like. Both of the new Loopers had been impressive in their own way. "Terrence" had apparently instinctively gotten the basics of a Subspace Pocket down when it came to his bag, the one that he always had to carry during his home Loops. The Subspace had transferred to his backpack for the loop, though when they found that out they also found out that he had accidentally left a Big Apple in there for Arceus only knew how long. Somehow it had turned into a malicious Eldritch... thing which tried to pull him in and eat him. After the other three pulled him, and the Apple Abomination out they learned that Charmander still knew Blast Burn. "Terrence" had also caught the Spearow that led the Route 1 flock when it turned out that Charmander's attack had scorched some of its tail feathers, causing it to chase them.

Now Ash and Pikachu were letting them have the first crack at Brock, wanting to see how a Rescue Pokémon battled. With two Pokémon each, Charmander took the stage opposite a Geodude. Brock frowned; even a rookie trainer knew that Fire had a serious disadvantage here, as he was a Rock type Gym and all his were dual-typed with Ground. He must be expecting Metal Claw to carry the day. Still, that meant that quite a bit of training went into the Pokémon before him, especially since the trainer seemed new. It wouldn't do to get overconfident. When the trainer didn't tell his Pokémon how to begin, Brock took the initiative. "Geodude, Rock Throw!" The boulder-like Pokémon threw the displaced stones at the tiny Fire Type, but the Pokémon just always seemed to slip away by the barest of margins. Becoming frustrated, Brock called out, "Tackle!" The Rock Type launched itself at Charmander intent on ringing a few bells to make it harder to dodge.

When Geodude was an arms-length away GoGetters responded. "Now!" "Terrence" called. Charmander ducked to the side, just out of Geodude's reach and then began his counter attack. It had turned out that Terrence had kept a few Link Boxes in the bag as well, for when the need might arise and the other two were curious at how powerful Linked Moves could be. So now was the prime opportunity to show them. Charmander began with Scratch, the first of the three Link Combo. Brock was surprised then saddened that his opponent really was that overconfident. Then Charmander kicked up some sand with his tail, the Charmander family typically couldn't learn Sand Attack but Rescuers are nothing if not inventive and a little bit insane. and he finished the link with a Flamethrower, the heat of the attack transforming the sand into glass tiny shards of glass and propelling them at the Rock Type while hiding the pieces in the fire.

When Brock saw his Pokémon fall he had to reevaluate the trainer in front of him. To wait until his Charmander knew Flamethrower to challenge a Gym... He wasn't overconfident, merely extremely unconventional. This would be an interesting match. "Go, Onix!" Team GoGetters looked at the Giant Rock Snake and frowned. They really didn't want to press their luck to see if they could get their link off again.

"Metal Claw," the Trainer advised.

Charmeleon of Team GoGetters was slightly annoyed. He and the others had all gone onto the S.S. Anne knowing it was a trap but not really caring either way, it would be interesting to see what Competent member of Team Rocket were like. Oh wait, that was a paradox-more competent, then. Ash and Pikachu had dealt with everyone in the ballroom or at least the blinding flash of yellow light accompanied by a tremendous boom and a cry of "Looks like Team Rocket's Blasting Off Again! *twinkle*" But to their constant luck, there had been one guy sent out to terrorize anyone still on the bow into complying. The moron had a Gyarados. Team GoGetters had gotten into it with the Rocket and in the fight the Gyarados had... destroyed about a fifth of the boat. As "Terrence" had yet to find a "suitable" Water type and Fearow was busy with an aerial duel this meant that he was the one who had to fight off the enraged Water/Flying type. Thankfully, things were not as bad as they could have been. Though Gyarados and Pikachu had probably ruined the structural integrity of the vessel, the S.S. Anne was sinking slowly enough that everyone was able to get to life boats before the sea took the ship. Unfortunately that meant that Charmeleon had to be careful of where he and Gyarados were fighting as one wrong move could lead to some very serious casualties.

So he had lead the behemoth on a slow circuit across the open water trying to get to the nearest shore, or tried to. There was a certain distance from its Captor the Gyarados just wouldn't go, which kept them in the general area of the bystanders. He hopped from wave to wave dodging the attempts from the Gyarados to combo off a Dive then Bite/Crunch as he had no desire to be eaten. He hadn't gotten any help yet, which was odd because there were quite a few people watching. But watching them he realized with a snarl that the thing had changed tactics, it was planning on slamming into the area with the lifeboats! "{Not on my watch,}" the Fire Type spat out. Charmeleon sped forward until he was under the levitation, and then jumped to meet it. He pulled his fist back remembering the training from the martial arts tutor they had met before Cerulean City, and let loose a Mega Punch at the Gyarados's moment of inertia. Its new force sent the Gyarados over the heads of the crowd to drop safely behind them with a tremendous splash.

Sighing with a satisfied smirk, Charmeleon watched as Fearow flew up to him, "Terrence" on his back. "{You know you are walking on water, right?}" Fearow noted dryly.

"{Yes, and I have had occasion to stand on the clouds that make up Rayquaza's Sky Pillar as a Charmander,}" Charmeleon replied. "{Any Rescue member who takes the time to learn the "All Terrain Hiker" Skill can walk on water, magma, and clouds just as easily as upon the earth. I took a bit more time than that.}" Fearow gazed at the other Stage 1 in a bored manner, before rolling his eyes and turning to allow Charmeleon onto his back.

Ash, Pikachu, and Team GoGetters had been invited to New Island to participate in Mewtwo's grand scheme, or so the two more experience Loopers had explained before handing "Terrence" some gems and disappearing at first opportunity, only telling them to stall for as long as possible. The gems had been Charzardite X and Y as well as Blastoisinite and a Mega Stone. Ash mentioned getting a couple sets in the Kalos Region over the course of multiple loops. Now Team GoGetters "listened" as explained the game. Three one-on-one grudge matches between the Final Evolutions of Kanto's Starter Pokémon. They had watched as the human trained Blastoise and Venusaur lost quickly. It was Charizard's turn. They both knew that it would be Charizard that would come up with the final strategy. "Terrence" wasn't too concerned, they had taken down Mewtwo together before, and really they weren't trying to win just stall out for whatever Ash and Pikachu were doing. That in mind "Terrence" took out the Mega Stone and handed his backpack to Charizard. His partner's eyes widened briefly before nodding.

"{Send out all three,}" Charizard growled out. "{If only the other Charizard challenges me, I will win too quickly.}"

"You dare mock me?" Mewtwo asked eyes flashing dangerously.

"{I state facts,}" Charizard replied. "{Now send them out, unless you would prefer to take the field yourself. In fact, all four. I want to defeat all four of you at once.}"

"Terrence" hesitated to glance at his partner in shock. He kept remembering the little Charmander, a Fire Type, who would force himself not to hide behind him, a Water Type, while they fought a Zapdos, a Legendary Electric/Flying Duel Type. He also knew what Charizard's plan was; because unlike Pokémon from here, who specialized in hitting hard and fast, they specialized in endurance. For these Pokémon a long battle lasted ten minutes, and while this was still true for the GoGetters as well, they were used to fighting multiple ten minute battles in a row. They cared more for moves with lots of PP than for those with high Damage. Because they dealt with the attacks they were weak to more often, they had a higher resistance to types they were weak to than Pokémon from here. He just hoped that Charizard didn't annoy Mewtwo enough to actually make it a four against one fight. Charizard might have had his bag and everything in it, that didn't mean that he could take down a Legendary when that Pokémon had backup.

"Fine, three it shall be. You are not worth my time, though if you truly wish to fall so fast, then I shall have to oblige," Mewtwo responded. Charizard smirked, exactly as planned.

Charizard heard his partner mutter, "Good luck," as he passed by. In response, Charizard readjusted the bag that he had fastened on his back. His partner joking yelled after him, "You better bring that back without a scratch you hear me? If it gets busted, that's coming out of your pay!" This time Charizard laughed as he stepped onto the battlefield. He eyed his three opponents and noticed that for everything, both the Venusaur and the Blastoise were worse than they seemed. The Charizard would probably be trying to keep him low so that the Blastoise could nail him with a Water Type move like Hydro Pump or Hydro Cannon if he knew it. The Venasaur was either another support fighter, most likely going to use one of the many spore attacks that it had such as Sleep Powder, Stun Spore, and Poison Powder. Well he could at least deal with the last one. He reached into the bag and pulled out a Pecha Scarf and tied it around his arm, knowing the magic of the scarf would protect him even though it wasn't around his neck. Charizard simply grinned.

"{Bring it}" he told them. And the battle began. The Blastoise used Hydro Pump, the Charizard Flamethrower, and the Venasaur attacked with Razor Leaf. Because of the storm Charizard didn't have to worry about Solar Beam coming out of nowhere. A quick flap of his wings and he was airborne. Charizard watched as only his doppelganger reacted and rose to meet him, sad really, Mewtwo wasn't taking him seriously yet! He'd have to fix that. Charizard noticed that the clone was going for a Seismic Toss. He could work with that. He allowed himself to be grappled and was calm as they hurtled towards the ground at a breakneck speed. Only when the other Pokémon tried to disengage did he react. He grabbed the double and twisted them around so that he was below the other as they fell. he flashed the clone a maniacal grin and only let go a hairs-breadth before he hit the unforgiving stone. Then he allowed his Supermobility Skill to take effect and passed through the solid mass like a Ghost Type. His clone did not have that skill and so belly-flopped onto the stage. As he fell below he eventually found Ash and Pikachu in the middle of destroying some very important and expensive looking equipment. "{Almost done?}" he asked them.

"About five more minutes would be great," Ash replied. "Just making sure we get everything."

"{Got it, can do,}" Charizard replied. He flew towards where he remembered the Blastoise clone being and once again passed through the earth without disturbing a stone. Seeing that the clones hadn't moved he quickly grabbed the Blastoise's arm and used his own Seismic Toss to throw the Water Type into the Venasaur clone.

"Get him!" The Venasaur used Vine Whip to hold him in place while the Charizard and the Blastoise Clones rushed to nail him with a Body Slam each. Charizard had already been reaching into the bag and showed them what he had pulled out, a Warp Orb. Then right before they could connect the orb activated and Charizard randomly ended up two hundred and fifty meters in the air above his partner. "If you won't stop playing games, then you shall learn the consequences of your arrogance!" Mewtwo mentally commanded the Charizard clone to burn the human. The clone moved to obey, and everyone knew there was nothing that Charizard could do. Charizard dived, praying for a miracle. As the flames came closer the "Terrence" didn't want it to end this way. He knew from experience that Mewtwo wasn't evil by nature, he just needed some good friends to help him. But that wouldn't happen now. Charizard would take out the clones but lose to Mewtwo in his rage. And that wasn't an acceptable outcome.

In desperation, he willed the waters like he did when he was a Pokémon. He had tried this many times before and it hadn't worked, but sometimes you can only truly exert your will when your life is on the line. A shadow came into being around him. The assembled crowd heard the cry "Toise!" And the waters rose as the leader of Team GoGetters used Surf. The flames harmlessly dissipated on the water wall. As Charzard landed by his partner the shadow seemed to expand and change. Now under the Charzard and transparent Blastoise was a Charmander and a Squirtle and a smoky facsimile of a Chikorita. The Squirtle was carrying a satchel and trusting forward some kind of badge, the Charmander was giving the "V for Victory" sign, the Chikorita seemed to be standing proudly beside her teammates. And then the Basic Pokémon evolved, though they didn't reposition themselves, though the badge now looked like it was made of Diamonds. And then they evolved again, this time the badge was in the shape of a Lucario's head. Finally, they spoke as one, "Team GoGetters is out of the Gate and ready for action!" As the vision faded, the human spoke up, "I guess we owe you one; I mean I could not figure out how to do that until just now! So I guess to show our appreciation... We're going to wrap this battle up right now!"

Charizard reached into the bag with a smirk and pulled out a single seed. He cracked it in his teeth and swallowed. Then he rushed out to the battlefield fast enough to leave afterimages. The clone tried to follow and noticed Charizard coming in from behind with a Slam attack using his tail, and moved to block... and find out that had been an afterimage and that Charizard was actually coming from his front with a Mega Punch. The cloned Pokémon landed in a leap on the other side of the battlefield. Charizard was then in front of the Venusaur with a Wing Attack, knocking the Pokémon out cold. Charizard then was in front of the cloned Blastoise and unleashed a Fire Blast right in it's face. Triple KO. "{And that's five minutes on the dot,}" Charizard noted as a quarter of the stands and most of the electronics disappeared in a flash of bright yellow.

* * *

2.7 (SeasideCharizard)

Oshawott lay face-down in the sand of a beach that was certainly nowhere familiar, especially considering he lived on the top of what was practically a mountain.

He'd been surprised before by where the Loops chose to place him sometimes, especially that time where he Awoke while travelling through a Magnagate.

Lying with half of his body stuck in sand, though? That was new.

He got up, shook the sand off, and looked around, opting to focus on the very worried Chimchar approaching him.

"Hello," they both said at the same time. They stopped, looked at each other, and then asked questions, also at the same time.

"Where am I?"

"Who are you?"

Chimchar answered Oshawott's question before Oshawott answered his, this time.

"You're next to Treasure Town."

"No place I'm familiar with. I'm Oshawott of the Explorers, from Paradise."

"Paradise?" Chimchar tilted his head, wondering just what kind of paradise the unfamiliar Pokémon meant.

"Paradise. You know Post Town? It's near there."

"Well, I have no idea where Post Town is…" Chimchar mumbled, before not speaking for a moment. Soon, his eyes lit up as if he came to a realization, and he added, "Hold on, are you stuck in a time loop?"

"Huh?" Oshawott looked at the Chimchar in surprise, then more relief at something indeterminable. "Oh. Yeah, I'm Looping."

Chimchar nodded slowly, as if considering what to do with the Oshawott before him.

Inside, he did feel quite a bursting joy—after all, he'd finally met someone else going through the phenomenon, and from what he could tell, this Pokémon knew more about it than he did.

"Then, I guess you're my partner this time! You're… in Piplup's place, and Piplup and I normally form the exploration team, Team Poképals."

"Let me guess, I'm replacing Piplup somehow and he's replacing me, and Piplup's an amnesiac?" Oshawott asked, to confirm his suspicions.

Particularly, as to why he had no Loop memories.

Chimchar nodded again. "That sounds about right, and yes, he lost his memory shortly before now. Did you happen to go on a big adventure or something in your journey?"

"World-saving," Oshawott clarified, saying it as if it were no big deal.

"Same here."

"This might be interesting, then," Oshawott noted, a new curiosity entering his voice. "Can I get a basic rundown of everything that happens for you?"

Chimchar thought for a second before answering.

When he did, he described, in vague but sufficient detail, the events up until the defeat of Primal Dialga and the restoration of the normal timeflow to the world.

Oshawott seemed impressed, and when Chimchar finished, even admiration was emanating off of him.

"Wow," Oshawott eventually said, having a new respect for the Chimchar. "I just have to deal with an alien snowflake that embodies negativity trying to end the world."

Chimchar stared blankly at Oshawott in half-incomprehension. "What."

"I know."

* * *

Piplup opened his eyes, looking out at the sky, and felt something along the lines of a pleasant breeze. A pleasant breeze that was becoming increasingly unpleasant.

Then he realized he wasn't standing, and looked down.

He was falling from a mile in the air.

"WHAT THE HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLL!"

* * *

"Oh, I just remembered!" Oshawott suddenly said.

"What's that?" Chimchar asked.

"I usually Wake Up falling from a mile in the sky."

Chimchar grimaced. "Uh-oh."

"One more thing," Oshawott added, with a tone of urgency. "Did you ever learn why you're Looping? You weren't using Looper terminology, so I was curious."

"No. What, is there a vocabulary for this stuff?" Chimchar asked, interested,

Oshawott looked around the beach, almost suspiciously, before answering. "Does anyone come here?"

"Nobody comes here for another two hours or so. Why?"

Oshawott, from somewhere that Chimchar couldn't determine, produced a number of strange, icy objects.

"You're going to need these."

* * *

Piplup had no idea how in the world he survived that fall, but he did not enjoy the surprise. That, and after seeing the landscape, he knew he was nowhere near Treasure Town.

"Ah? That's not Oshawott."

"You're right."

Two voices. One's a boy, the other's probably a girl. That, and Piplup was apparently replacing an Oshawott.

This was either going to go well or horribly.

Piplup sat up, and looked at the perplexed Pikachu and... electric squirrel Pokémon, whatever it was.

"Huh," was all that he said.

The two stared blankly at the Piplup for a while, before Pikachu finally asked, "Who are you?"

"Piplup of Team Poképals, and I have no idea how I got here. Time loops and all… Whoa."

"Oooh, okay, that explains it. We've gone through this before, anyway," the Pikachu quickly responded. The electric squirrel next to her was already looking through his bags for something.

"Then, can someone tell me why I have really conflicting memories right now?" Piplup asked, clearly very confused at what his head was telling him.

"Yeah. You're replacing Oshawott right now, and thing with the Loops is that it gives you a second set of memories belonging to the person you replaced; 'Loop memories'. Like I said, it happened before, though we got a Squirtle instead of a Piplup. Still a human-turned-Pokémon, anyway. There was also the other Looper, but... well, never mind that. I'm guessing you're also originally human?"

Piplup sighed. "Yes, yes I am."

"Great! As far as I know, this Loop actually requires that… unless we try to use a satellite cannon on the Bittercold. That works, too. And, by the way, I'm Pikachu, and this is Emolga." Pikachu pointed at the electric squirrel when she said that, apparently named Emolga.

"I'm not gonna comment on why they're all Water-types," Emolga mumbled, still digging through his bag until he finally found what he was looking for. It looked like a cross between a very precious jewel and a chunk of ice, white on top and blue on the bottom.

"You're both looping, right? Total of three?" Piplup asked. "Me and my partner are, so I guess that makes a current total of… plus that Squirtle, six?"

"Yeah… oh, add one more for Squirtle's partner. Two partners, actually, so eight. Did you get the whole talk about why you're Looping yet?" Emolga asked, holding multiples of the icy thing now.

"Nope, no clue. I asked Dialga, but he wasn't helpful… and what are those?"

"…Before I answer that, did you just say you asked Dialga?"

Piplup shrugged. "Poképals fights legendaries. A lot. To the point where most of them join our team."

"You managed to get the time deity on your team. I'm officially pretty impressed," Emolga remarked. "These are called Frisms, by the way. They activate like this!"

He started rubbing the top of it, and the white seemed to just come off in a mist, revealing blue. Afterwards, the Frism somehow spoke.

"Oh, do I just speak with this thing near me? Kind of like a tape recorder. Well, then, Introduction to the Multiverse and Looping. If you're lucky, you can get into Multiverse Honors."

* * *

"Okay. Let me get this straight, because this is really weird. I'm looping through time forever, sometimes with random changes or in completely different loops, because a world tree that runs reality got hit with a something and isn't functioning entirely correctly, and I'm one of the Anchors, the first people to start Looping in their Loop, who Loop every single time, and from there sort of spread the Looping to those around them, and, again, I'm one of them. Dear Arceus, I'm going to go crazy at this rate."

"I was already crazy to begin with, so I don't care," Oshawott nonchalantly said, somehow putting away double the Frisms from before, as he ended up recording the recording so as to not lose it. "And I really want a voice recorder so I don't have to do this. Maybe I can get a Porygon to make it or something."

"And those are? Voice recorders record voices, I get that much."

"Human thing."

"…Hey. Wait a second," Chimchar began, pointing at Oshawott. "You remember?"

"Yes? Hey, not every human-turned Pokémon has amnesia, especially in my weird case."

Chimchar just slowly nodded.

Oshawott looked annoyed for a second, but then dropped it. "So, I'm assuming you'll just let me progress through how everything normally goes?"

"Floor's yours, I guess. For the most part."

"The most part?"

"I'm going to try and make half of the events unnecessary this Loop and hope that Darkrai doesn't have a backup-backup-backup plan."

"Whatever it is, I'm in."

* * *

As soon as Emolga was finished playing all of the Frisms, he said, "And that's that," before realizing that Piplup wasn't paying attention. In fact, Piplup seemed to just be gone.

Pikachu looked somewhere between annoyed and amused. "Geez. He went into… what did Oshawott call it?"

"BSoD mode."

"This is going to be troublesome, isn't it."

"Yep!"

* * *

Much later on, Team Poképals, minus one Piplup and plus one Oshawott, made their way through Amp Plains and ran into the local Electrike clan.

"Ha ha ha! My name is Manectric! I am… I am the leader of these Electrike!"

The Manectric and the Electrike appeared from the shadows, surrounding Team Poképals. However, contrary to expectations, neither Chimchar nor Oshawott seemed to be afraid.

Oshawott in particular just defiantly drew his scalchop from his stomach and yelled.

"I will give you one good reason why you shouldn't attack! This is your only warning!"

"And what is that?" Manectric asked, also showing defiance in his tone.

A violently flowing blade made of glowing water extended from the scalchop, and Oshawott pointed it threateningly at Manectric.

"I know about timed hits," he simply said.

"…"

"…"

Manectric stared at the Oshawott for a while, before seeming to relent, but then immediately shouting after, "Prepare to fight!"

Oshawott sighed. "I warned you."

* * *

"Okay, okay, I think I'm starting to get it. Sorry for that," Piplup grumbled, busy being somewhat hard of understanding everything he just heard about the Multiverse.

"It's fine. To be honest, I was pretty upset about the whole looping thing, because I have to rebuild my Pokémon Paradise every Loop," Pikachu said, showing what she meant by staring out across a barren wasteland.

"Yep. Welcome to Paradise." Emolga sighed.

"Are you sure this is Paradise? It looks empty," observed Dunsparce, Emolga's friend who was not Awake.

"It's empty now, but looks beautiful later… You'll see," Pikachu answered. Then she turned to Piplup. "By the way, we stick mostly to baseline, because it's hard for a lot of our team to gather if we don't. But, you're in luck, since we're going to try to go through everything and beat our local catastrophe as quickly as possible this Loop. Only you can actually fight the thing, though, so…"

"Oh, don't worry. Dialga was resolved with two Bubble Beams last Loop," Piplup stated confidently, even giving an odd penguin grin while doing so.

"…Geez. You'll definitely be able to do it quickly."

"Just because I don't want any more surprises like suddenly being a mile in the air, how do the… technically required events in the Loop go?"

Pikachu started to whisper, likely because of Dunsparce's presence.

"First, we recruit a Pokémon named Gurdurr and his two apprentices, and if we don't, we can't do anything with Paradise. It involves us getting swindled, so we have to play along with that. The exact events behind him joining us are usually so specific that I don't want to risk trying anything, but I bet there's definitely another way. I'll try it later, maybe. Same with the next member, Virizion, who... unfortunately, has us allowing Dunsparce to get swindled as well. After that, everything goes pretty fast. We can intercept both Umbreon and Espeon, which is the most important part, because it removes about half of the problems that occur in our journey, and from there, we take out the big bad and we're free for the rest of the Loop. However long that is."

"Sounds pretty cool," Piplup responded, nodding in approval.

"Oh, and just a special little perk for this Loop, you're going to be a human for two or three days near the end of it," Pikachu added on.

"Wait, what? How does that work?"

"Sentient Earth, implied universe pressure… To be honest, I don't really know, either."

* * *

2.8 (AbZHz101)

Waking up was misery. Between feeling like someone had was constantly practicing Thunder Wave on his brain and the contracting of his stomach he could tell it had been a few days since he had last eaten. 'What the heck happened?' he wondered, grimacing as he stared at the too bright sky. With the amount of light it would have to be at least midmorning, at latest midafternoon. It was rather annoying, he had been having such a nice dream before he woke up too. Part of him just wanted to ignore everything that was happening and just go back to sleep, to see if he could dream the same dream... and maybe, just maybe finish it this time. But he was also famished, and something told him that if he fell asleep now, he probably wouldn't be getting back up.

As he rose he tried to collect his thoughts, only to find that he had two very much conflicting sets of "recent" memories. He sighed. _'Of course... I always knew the other shoe would drop eventually... But to think it would drop like this...'_ He glared at the cheerful world and beyond, as if to aim his spite at the very concept of Fate. "{Well, fuck you too!}" Then his rage spent the tiny Pokémon sighed and began to walk off in search of food. "{That was really low,}" he muttered. But still, was it possible to dream a lifetime in one night? ...To dream within a dream? ...To experience bliss, despair, vindication... maybe even love? Was that possible in a dream? 'In the end, it doesn't matter,' the Pokémon thought. 'It taught me all I need to know at the moment. And that is that I need to take care of myself for right now. Damien wasn't coming back.'

The basic Pokémon tried to forage for food, but he was for the most part, a city Pokémon. Yes, he remembered living on a reserve for a long time but there were quite a few differences between then and now. First, the area he was used to scanning was made up of high mountains and steep cliffs, not lush forests. Second, he was used to looking for mountain foods themselves as they were favored by his kind over anything that he could find here. Third, he was used to scanning from the sky, not dragging his tail through the mud. Fourth he had never tried to search for food when he was this hungry, none of the Charizard had; it had never gotten to that point. On the rare occasion that one of them had gotten too sick to search for food on their own the others would always gather extra-the unspoken agreement being that if the roles were ever reversed the same courtesy would be given, but that was just a dream.

It was only after hours of fruitless searching that the Charmander began to really realize just how much trouble he was in. Even though he was on flat ground he was still swaying and stumbling from one edge to the other of the road that he had somehow found himself on. If he was in control of his faculties and able to see himself he would have noticed that his eyes were unfocused, his scales were paling into something like a dull rust, and his tail flame was dangerously low. Most beings would probably try to kill him in a misguided attempt at mercy thinking him at Death's door. But his Dream had given him something-a will beyond what most could imagine, a drive that would keep him going even if they cut off all his limbs and tore out his still-beating heart-he refused to die. Higher level thought briefly returned to the tiny Pokémon as he once again found himself on his back, staring up at a pair of faces from his dream. "{No way...You can't be real... You're only a Dream... great Dream... can I go back?}"

When he next awoke, it was to an strange ceiling and a dull ache in his left arm. Unable to make sense of what had happened he simply tried to lay there and get back to the dream in which he could dream. "{Hey, you doing alright?}" Charmander jerked. He knew that voice. Sweet Arceus, he knew that voice and so wanted to hear it. Because if he heard it then that meant that he was back in the Dream. "{That jerk that had the gall to call himself a Trainer left a few days ago. Ironically the moron let slip what he did in a neighboring town a couple of hours ago so they were just about to send out search parties when we came in with you. They had all the stuff already prepped.}" Charmander tried to take in everything that he was hearing and he just couldn't.

Tears began to leak from his eyes. "{Just stop... I don't want to hear anymore...}" the Flame Pokémon begged.

"{Look, I know that he was your trainer and all but he left you to die out there!}" the voice that he knew so well argued.

"{I don't care about that jackass! If he actually finally gets what's coming to him, then I would say "Good for the Justice System." I just don't want to hear anymore of this Darkrai Spawn! It... it's too perfect... I won't be able to take it when I have to wake up on that rock or on the roadside.}"

"{What makes you think that this is a dream?}" There was suspicion in that voice. His dream friend was guarding his emotions. Charmander flinched at the tone. It conveyed silent words that he dreaded to hear: loss of trust.

"{Because, I already woke up once before.}"

"{Oh Original Ones...}" There was nothing short of unmasked horror now. "{You're Looping.}"

* * *

2.9 (jxz)

Red Woke Up-

And had to dodge a Flamethrower from a Charizard with a red visor.

Dodging the attacks, he knew that he had to find some place to hide, so he took a smoke pellet from his Pocket and threw it to the fire Pokemon. Luckily, it worked, and the Charizard was blinded long enough for Red to escape into some trees.

Once free of danger, he decided to check his memories.

"...Ugh, really? Archbishop Red, from the Church of Helix?" He sighed. His memories told him that the Charizard he was confronting was a follower of AJ, leader of the Great Anti-Gods Movement. He also had defeated some Pokemon and Trainers of the Church of Dome and Team Anarchy. Also, he was in Helix-Kanto, in the frontier between it and Dome-Kanto.

"Arceus damn it..." He whispered, as he took his X-Gear from his Pocket, and dialed Gold.

On the artifact, Gold appeared. He looked tired. "Yo, what's up."

"Gold? What happened to you?" Red asked, a bit worried about his friend.

"Eh, a Rhyperior wanted to kill me, but I defeated him first." Gold said. "And I was waiting for you to call. The leader of Team Anarchy-You know them?"

"Unawake me fought with some of them. Why?"

"It's leader is not Sapphire," Gold said. "It's a looping May."

"Well, that's a relief," Red said. "Sapphire would go Commando in this world, or at least go Tarzan... again."

"Yeah. She's coming from Anarchy-Hoenn. We'll see you in Mt. Silver, ok?"

"Ok."

He ended the communication and started to walk. This Loop would be interesting…

* * *

2.1 - Mega Man: Fire Red Version - Part 2

2.2 - Misty's first Fused Loop, with Percy Jackson, in case it wasn't obvious enough for you.

2.3 - Gary really is a prick before Johto, isn't he?

2.4 - PIKACHU IS A GIRL!

2.5 - That would be Black, from Pokemon Special. Since we have no idea what the original Dragon of Unova looked like, any attempt to form it in the Loops causes a Loop crash.

2.6 - The Introduction to the Multiverse for the Rescue Team Protagonist and Partner.

2.7 - The same for the Explorers Protagonist and Partner, courtesy of the Gates to Infinity Loopers.

2.8 - Charizard's First Loop. Yeah...I kind of feel sorry for him.

2.9 - Some Twitch Loops focus on the spazzing. Others focus on the Lore.


	3. Chapter 3

3.1

"Pikachu?"

"Yeah, Ash?"

"Why are we robots?"

"I don't know. And that 'Super Adapter' thing is just plain _weird_..."

"Yeah. I mean, you're my best friend and all, but I don't want to become one with you or something..."

* * *

3.2

Pikachu was not amused. Although, he wasn't exactly a Pikachu this time around. This time, he was a Past Participle. ...Yeah, he didn't get it either. He still LOOKED mostly the same as usual, but instead of being Electric-type, he was Verb-type. What Professor Oak was saying to the Unawake Ash wasn't helping his headache either.

"So remember, Ash. Try to catch as many Grammarmon as you can, and you too can be one of the most eloquent speakers in the World."

"I's wills done this Professor!"

Why, Arceus, why?

* * *

3.3 (Crisis)

Ash looked at the arrangement of Unown and read, "Weir two spell too drunk."

"No kidding," Misty agreed.

* * *

3.4 (Inkweaver22)

Pikachu wasn't entirely sure what he was this loop. He was still an Electric-type, just not one he recognized. Instead of being a mouse Pokémon, he was now some sort of red panda species called 'Volpan'.

* * *

3.5 (AbZHz101)

"{Well according to the nurses, officially Ash is temporarily in charge of your well being seeing as he brought you into the center... Unofficially it'll probably be permanent within about a week,}" Pikachu told his bed-bound friend. "{Pretty open and shut case, they said.}"

"{And I'll be able to leave, when?}" Charmander growled, glaring at the IV in his arm.

"{They'll be able take that out tomorrow if everything goes okay. They aren't going to let you out of the bed for at least a week, though,}" Pikachu replied.

"{But I _need_ to move!}" Charmander pleaded.

"{Hey, don't use that on _me_. I'm just relaying the message. Honestly, I think most of it is they don't want to risk us running off with you before you're better and officially Ash's Pokémon. I figure you once you start recovering, we might be able to convince them to a supervised game of ball or something,}" Pikachu replied with a shrug. "{Besides, weren't you always lounging around when the rest of us were playing anyway?}"

"{I don't do prolonged inactivity well. What happens most days is that I switch between training and resting about every five minutes. I can really only do prolonged strenuous activity if I'm facing someone I really want to beat.}" He purposefully ignored Pikachu's disbelief. "{Besides, I'm pretty sure that none of you would have appreciated the minor earthquakes that tend to happen when I run.}" Then he thought about what he just said-specifically how it related to the fact that he was currently a lot smaller and lighter than he was used to-covered his face with this paws, and growled into them. "{This is so confusing! You know what I mean!}" Any further discussion was put on hold as the door opened.

The two Pokémon looked up to see the faces of Ash, the Local Nurse Joy, and some of her Chansey assistants. "Well, you sure are looking better," the nurse said pleasantly. Charmander smiled back and gestured to the IV. "No, not yet. Because you haven't eaten anything for days it's entirely possible that if we were to take it out and feed you normally you would simply regurgitate the food and make yourself more sick. Yesterday was touch-and-go for a while so we would like to do everything possible to prevent a relapse." Charmander grimaced, but didn't press the issue. Something told him that if he did make an issue out of it he would only be in here longer. With that the nurses left the three Loopers alone.

"Hey, are you doing okay?" Ash asked.

"{I am now,}" Charmander replied with a smile. "{Pikachu tells me that you can understand Pokémon now.}" Ash nodded. "{Good, then just so you know, as soon as we're alone you're getting a Flamethrower to the face.}"

Ash groaned. "_Why?_"

"{Well, most of it is that I want to make sure its really you,}" the Fire type replied, nearly lost in his own thoughts. "{When you took me with you the first time... I thought it was too good to be true. It was so different from what I knew and all of it was _better_. And when I evolved the first time I wondered if it really was everything it seemed. So I decided to see how far I could push, know just what it would take to make you snap at me. Once I knew just how far I could go... I would have been happy. I mean_ everyone_ has limits, it was only natural that you would as well... But you just _didn't_! No matter how much crap I gave you, no matter what I did, I couldn't find that limit. I found the other's limits easily enough, you wouldn't believe the grief I got from the others for my little stunt during the Indigo League... But the one limit I wanted to find... I couldn't. It wasn't until I almost got myself killed while we were in the Orange Islands and you spent all night making my mistake right that I got it. The moment I became yours there was nothing that I could do to make you mad at me, much less revoke that gift.}"

"{Once I realized that... It made me reconsider all the things I had been doing and forced me to recognize how much of an idiot I was being. So I stopped... Mostly. After I finally got that part of you, I became worried about what would happen if you ever lost that. So the Flamethrowers were my way to check. To make sure you were still my trainer, still the Ash I knew.}" Charmander paused gathering up strength for what he was about to say. "{Ash, I won't purposefully hit you with attacks in public anymore if you don't want me to, but if you ever lose that part of yourself... I won't listen to you anymore. Because... That's what makes you Ash! That's what makes you our Trainer! Got that?!}"

"Yeah, loud and clear," Ash replied with a distant smile. There was silence in the room for about half a minute as everything that had been said sank in. Then Ash wondered aloud, "So you said that was most of the reason for the Flamethrowers... What was the rest?"

Charmander's face flushed, he turned his head away unable to look while explaining, and he muttered, "{I never really outgrew thinking that _"Ash is Ashes"_ was funny.}"

* * *

3.6 (jxz)

Ash gave a drink to Marcus, as both humans looked at their partners fighting against the other.

"So... Anchor?" Ash asked, as Pikachu shot an Electro Ball to Agumon, who dodged.

"Basically. You?" Marcus said, as Agumon shot a Baby Flame to Pikachu, who destroyed it with Iron Tail.

"No, Pikachu is the Anchor." Pikachu didn't see Agumon behind him, until the lizard Digimon punched him. He was sent flying into a wall.

"Oh. Do you want to do something?" Pikachu used the wall to impulse himself and increase the velocity of his Surprise Attack, managing to tackle Agumon to the ground.

Ash grabbed some cards from his backpack. "I have these cards from Yuma's loop. Do you want to play?"

Marcus smiled, grabbing his own set of cards, as well as a D-Gazer and a Duel Disk. "You're on!"

And with that, they started the duel, forgetting for a while of the reason the two non-human beings were fighting in the first place was because they wanted to know who was stronger; A Pokemon or a Digimon.

But the two humans knew it would take a long time to know it.

And it was easier than make Yggdrasil (the machine, not the entire Multiverse) and Arceus fight, anyway. And it wouldn't cause a Crash.

* * *

3.7 (LordCirce)

Pikachu stared up at the sky. Dark clouds were swirling around, and within the storm, Pikachu could see the core of Zekrom glowing. It was almost time.

This Loop had been pretty much baseline. Bulbasaur and Charmander has swapped places earlier, and Ash had caught a Carvanha instead of a Corphish, but it was otherwise the same. Pikachu was the only one Awake, and he had decided it was the perfect time to try out an idea he had.

A bolt of blue lightning lanced down from the clouds, blasting apart the contraption that Pikachu was currently trapped in. Ash sprawled backwards from the blast, while Team Rocket were hurtled skyward. Pikachu ignored it all as he twisted and darted forward. He had to act quickly to get this set up.

With a quick thought, five wooden boxes dropped on the ground around Pikachu. With a quick spin, he knocked all of them open with his tail, revealing five glowing Thunderstones. Pikachu grit his teeth as he felt the energy of the stones pulsing out, seeking to catalyze an evolution in his cells.

The energy of Pokemon evolution was rather mysterious, even to the Pokemon themselves. The energy itself was identical between all Pokemon, but it had a unique effect depending on the species. It was powerful, but it was impossible to utilize for anything except evolution. Or rather, it was almost impossible.

Pikachu shot out five thin sparks, each one striking a Thunderstone. The stones glowed, and the evolution energy poured over the connection, surging back into Pikachu's body. Pikachu could feel the changes starting, his tail thinning and fur darkening. With a tremendous effort of will, he forced back the change, corralling the energy of the Evolution Stones to pool within his center.

Seconds past, and Pikachu felt the energy build to a peak. The stones were dim now, their power exhausted, and pure white lightning crackled around Pikachu, pitting the ground and splitting the air. Pikachu twisted to glare skyward, at the form of the black dragon just visible in the clouds.

"{Eat this!}" Pikachu screamed as the energy he had built up leapt out and up, twisting into a pillar of pure white light. Pikachu, though, could see Zekrom's eyes widening through the glare, and then the bolt struck. The storm was ripped apart by the discharge. Secondary bolts tore through the clouds, revealing the form of Zekrom for all to see. Zekrom writhed and reeled from the burst of energy. After several long seconds, the pillar of lightning tapered away, revealing a scarred dragon and an unconscious mouse. Zekrom roared before vanishing, white sparks still trailing across its body, while Ash ran forward to check on Pikachu.

* * *

Later, at the Professor's Lab, Pikachu studied himself in the mirror. He wasn't evolved, but he certainly was changed by the energy. His fur was much deeper, and he had gained about two or three inches in height. His tail was thinner as well, coming to a sharper point at the end. The biggest changes were to his cheek pouches. Both of them had turned pure white, creating a shocking contrast with his dark brown fur.

"{Heh, totally worth it.}" Pikachu shot himself the victory sign.

* * *

3.8 (LordCirce)

Red blinked as he appeared in a large blank room. The walls and floor were all black, with white lines at the edges. He barely had a chance to take it in, before a voice spoke up behind him.

"Hi there, and welcome to the world of Pokemon."

Red spun, to come face to face with Professor Juniper. She didn't appear to be looking right at him, focusing instead on a point just to his right.

"My name is Professor Juniper. Everyone calls me the Pokemon Professor."

Red groaned. It looked like he was going to be taking part in one of the games. He wondered if this one would include a menu system or not. Sometimes the games acted like real-life, just with flat characters. Other times, it was just like he was in the game, including being unable to unzip his backpack without accessing a menu.

Professor Juniper's spiel was winding down as Red came out of this thoughts.

"...yourself? Are you a boy, or a girl?"

Red laughed. "Do I look like a girl? I'm a..."

"So you're a girl. I would like to know your name."

"No, I..." Red cut himself off before his name got set as "Noimnot".

"Please tell me your name."

"Red."

* * *

Red opened his eyes as the bright light faded away after his "registration". He quickly glanced down, and was pleased to see that he was still a boy. _'Heh, Looper trumps game.'_

"Red, I heard from Prof. Juniper that we can have a Pokemon." Red turned to glance at the boy that had just walked up beside him. He recognized him from the intro as Cheren.

Bianca showed up shortly thereafter, and they opened up the box that Professor Juniper had apparently left. "It's Red's house, so she gets first pick."

Red's brain froze up. _'She?'_. Slowly, he closed his eyes and began to bang his head on the desk by the box._ 'Stupid, stupid, stupid game.'_ Behind him Bianca and Cheren both stood smiling.

Lifting himself back up, Red looked at the three Pokeballs. Each was marked with a label detailing which Pokemon was inside. Snivy the Grass Type, Oshawott the Water Type, and...Pikachu the Fire Type?

Red reached in and pulled out the ball containing Pikachu. Was this some kind of variant? He ignored Cheren and Bianca as they picked their Pokemon, and instead sent out Pikachu.

"{Finally. I hate Pokeballs,}" The Pikachu sat down and shook himself off, before glancing up at Red. "{Oh, Red, it's you. How are you doing?}"

Red smiled as he recognized the tone of Ash's Pikachu. "Pretty good, though I am apparently female this time around."

Red frowned as Pikachu rolled over laughing.

* * *

3.9 (Khelder)

Waking up in the lab mid-Thunderbolt, Pikachu paused.

"{You're not Ash.}"

The apparent replacement for his best friend glared at him for a moment, sparking and smoking gently, before sighing.

"Maa, that wasn't very nice now, was it?"

Right, of course - after so many Loops alongside Ash, he'd forgotten that most people couldn't understand Pokémon. And Prof. Oak might keep him for study if he used English right away...

* * *

Once out of Pallet town, Pikachu spoke up. A quick explanation from each later, to clarify this was definitely a Looper and what usually happened in Baseline, and they were ready to set out. His companion was apparently fairly new to the Loops himself, but had picked up the basics and a few trick from friends in his home universe - most notably, a pair of clip-on earrings that would allow the wearers to understand each other regardless of language, and communicate over a moderate distance.

The electric Pokémon gladly accepted a few copies and designs, and they'd decided hurry to shelter rather than spend too much time in conversation.

* * *

They managed to reach the first Gym with less trouble along the way than 'baseline' - although not by much - and decided to win the Boulder Badge on their first attempt - the thought bringing Pikachu back to the present. Dodging a thrown rock, he darted forwards to knock Geodude out with a well placed, if mildly overpowered, Thunderpunch. Brock quickly sent out Onix, but they were interrupted before they could start the round.

"Crude, but I guess it worked."

Pikachu turned around and glared at his trainer, nose stuck in the Pokedex.

"{Crude? That attack was textbook-perfect.}"

"That was 'Perfect'. Really? Mind if I swap in then?"

When he hopped into the arena, Brock suddenly spoke up

"Hey, what're you doing? We're in the middle of a match here!"

He got a smile in return, and a clinically delivered reply.

"True... But while the rules state that a team consists of a Trainer and their Pokémon, and that only up to 6 members of the team may participate in the battles, nowhere does it say that those participants all have to be Pokémon."

Waving the Pokedex, showing the relevant articles, in Brock's direction, the looper looked at Pikachu until he left the arena, then ran through some quick stretches, ending with some finger contortions.

"Well, you have spirit - I'll give you that. But, I think my Onix is a bit big for you to take on yourself. What do you say?"

Flicking his head to spin his cap away from covering his eye, Kakashi risked a glance backwards towards his sullen partner with a smirk.

**"Chidori."**

* * *

3.10 (jxz)

Gold and May were at the place where, in normal game variants, Red and Gold fought; the summit of Mount Silver. Right now, May was trying to make some rocks float with Airbending, while Gold was practicing his Jutsu.

"When did Red say he would come?" May asked.

"He said he would be here any moment," Gold told the Anime counterpart of his friend. "Let's wait for a few moments, and if he doesn't appear, we'll go outside and look for him."

"And allow yourselves to be trapped by 'my' people? No thanks," Both trainers heard someone come from the only entry to the cave. From it, a badly bruised Red appeared, holding a Master Sword in his hands, which he quickly returned to his Pocket, as it was in a bad state, and they couldn't afford Demise free in this world.

"Red! What in the name of Xerneas happened to you?" Gold exclaimed, as he and May brought First-Aid kits.

"I found some followers of Dome..." Red winced as May cleaned his wounds with alcohol. "And I had to use one of Chouji's pills. Not the red one, of course."

"That explains why are you so thin..." May said, picking out some instant ramen from her backpack (Not her Subspace Pocket, her baseline backpack.), and a generator from her Pocket, and started preparing food.

Once they ate, the three sat down and thought about what to do.

"We can't return to our in-Loop lives. They are so weird..." Gold said.

"And if we just come back and don't act like our in-Loop selves, we may be facing death by Pokemon." May said. "I was there once, and it wasn't pretty."

"But... Pokemon can't kill humans in Game Loops," Red argued.

"Trust me, you haven't felt an Aggron and Tauros avalanche," May shivered.

"I have an idea, but it's a bit difficult," Gold said.

"Tell it, tell it!" May exclaimed. Red nodded at him to continue.

"Well, it goes like this..."

* * *

"Attention, all followers of Helix!" Archbishop Red appeared in all TV's in Helix-Kanto. "We have a new enemy!"

The screen changed into an image of a big dragon. "There's a new god, the god of order! Unlike the rulers of Democracy, The God of Order-"

* * *

"Wants to destroy the world, thus destroying every human and Mon!" Great leader AJ's voice rang across the radios on New Land-Johto. "The god is so strong, I had to join forces with A And Red to save us! If we-"

* * *

"Let this 'god' kill us, everything we've done will be in vain!" A's voice shouted, while all members of Team Anarchy turned their ears/eyes/whatever they had to her. "Thus, now I declare war against the God of Order, and a truce between us, the Great Anti Gods Movement, and the Church of Helix!"

* * *

"However, our war against the Church of Dome will continue, as they have decided to join forces with the God of Order to destroy the world." Archbishop Red said, as the image changed back into his face. "Thus, our first goal will be destroy them, and then-"

"THE GOD OF ORDER WILL BE DEFEATED!"

Cheers were heard across the globe.

* * *

May, Gold and Red looked in a tank of Team Anarchy, as the three groups destroyed the last of the Eldritch locations where he Church of Dome tried to summon "Lord Dome", as they had called the Kabuto fossil they had. They had decided to direct the entire hate of the groups towards the Church of Dome, in a Lelouch-kind of move. And it was really good, because the Church was REALLY bad all along.

"So... what now?" Gold asked, while the armies celebrated.

"Well, We can say the 'God of Order' was annihilated when we destroyed this place," May said. "Now, how to join our factions into one..."

"Why don't we say the gods died in the battle against the God of Order?" Red declared. "That way, mine and Gold's factions will be at peace, and I'm sure May's faction won't attack if we promise we won't."

"...What a good idea! Red, you're a genius!" May exclaimed.

"Now that's a phrase you don't hear every Loop," Gold murmured loud enough for Red to hear.

"Hey!"

* * *

3.11 (LordCirce)

James sat bolt upright, his eyes wide. "Jessie, look...out..." He glanced around at his surroundings. This was not that odd mansion full of Unown, and it didn't look like any place he had ever been.

'Did I get dropped into a new Loop?' James looked around dazedly, trying to remember how he got here. His eyes fell on a small photograph on the floor next to the mat he had been sleeping on. In it was a younger version of him, along with his parents...

_*Flashback*_

_Young James was standing in the shadows of an alley, trembling. He had thrown a fit during a showing at the theater and had run out. His parents had followed, catching him in this alleyway. His father had given him a stern lecture about responsibility, then his mother had offered to buy him some ice cream. He had agreed, when a man appeared out of the shadows. There was a flash, a gun shot, his mother was falling, the man stepped back, his dad fell too._

_*Flash Forward*_

"Nooo!" James shook his head. In almost every Loop, his parents would fake their deaths or something similar to try and trick him to come home. He had tried it, once, when he and Jessie had quit Team Rocket and needed funds, but it had been just as horrible as he feared. However, while he was often estranged from his parents, that didn't mean that he didn't care about them. James sat for several moments, crying, before he slowly straightened up. His Not-Awake self had spent the past several years running around the world, trying to drown the guilt in meaningless activities, mixed with many forms of self-defense training. However, a letter had arrived just one week ago, from the board of his father's company.

It was time for James Wayne to return to Gotham City.

* * *

3.12 (Crisis)

Jessie would have liked her 'Loop self' this time a lot. She'd apparently been a special forces army nurse for several years, finally giving her the proper knowledge and experience she'd originally wanted in her baseline before joining Team Rocket, and it gave her regular access to all kinds of neat weapons and munitions.

The problem was her family. Not the fact that she had been married to some version of James, nor the fact that she was apparently the mother of versions of two of the twerps (May and Max to be specific). No, it had more to do with the fact that they were dead.

Killed in a mafia hit gone wrong.

Well, the mob would learn the error of their ways. Jessie Castle would punish them severely to make sure.

* * *

3.13 (LordCirce)

"{The Poke War II flying ace dives into battle. Hurling through the air, the ace twists and dives, firings off bolts of fury from the heavens. What's that? Out of the sun dives our hero's greatest foe, the Fiery Baron!}"

Ash and Misty watched as Pikachu buzzed about, floating around two feet off the ground, positioned like he was flying some sort of plane. Misty, who was Unawake but had grown used to Ash and Pikachu's quirks after a trip through Kanto, had only one question.

"Where did Pikachu get those goggles?"

* * *

3.1 - Hilariously, the next Loop they had was a ReBURST one.

3.2 - Grammarmon! Gotta Spell 'Em All! (Tagline by Crisis)

3.3 - Unown typically arrange themselves in words to communicate. They have terrible spelling if you give them booze first. (Tagline by Zap Rowsdower)

3.4 - A lot of Variants have Fakemon in them, don't they?

3.5 - Charizard's First Loop - Part 2. Don't worry about it, Charmander, we think it's funny too.

3.6 - The age-old question; who would win in a fight between a Pokemon and a Digimon? ...Like we're going to tell you! That's Flame Bait right there!

3.7 - Yeah...Pikachu has never forgiven Zekrom for depowering him in the baseline.

3.8 - Part 1 of a Round Robin Loop to get a certain someone Looping. But we won't tell you guys until Part 2 is posted, sorry.

3.9 - Pikachu has to deal with the fact that he's not the Supreme Master of Electricity. I suppose it's also nice to see that Kakashi has recovered as well.

3.10 - Part 2 and Final of the Twitch Lore Loop. They _really_ didn't want to put up with the crap around there...

3.11 - HIS PARENTS ARE DEAD!

3.12 - If James is a DC, then Jessie's a Marvel. And guess where Meowth ended up...?

3.13 - Pikachu and Snoopy hit it off pretty well when they met.


	4. Chapter 4

4.1

"Pikachu?"

"Yeah, Ash?"

"Why does everything look like an M.C. Escher painting?

"I think this Loop is one where Palkia went nuts."

* * *

4.2 (AbZHz101)

Red and Pikachu watched as Cheren and Bianca ran ahead through Route 1. The two Anchors stared at each other for a moment before nonchalantly following. How Black and White dealt with this in every flat variant was beyond them. As Red continued his stroll, getting what amounted to free money from Pikachu using Thundershock, or notably when Red doubted that he knew any Fire moves, Ember on what had most likely been until recently the local wildlife, he heard something he didn't expect. To anyone else it was a normal Pokémon cry but as Pokémon was Red's second language and he had been to Unova outside of this Loop he knew that this was not part of the regularly scheduled program. He knew that for two reasons: 1; the call was, "{Hey, Pikachu! Long time, no see!}", and 2; Squirtles were not native to Unova.

"Terrence!" Pikachu replied, as the Squirtle broke free of the grass line. The Squirtle grimaced.

"That was an in-Loop name and you know it!" the Pokémon shot back. Pikachu returned fire by sticking out his tongue and making a face. "Anyway, guess who else is here? Come on out guys!" A skeptical Chimchar and Oshawott soon walked into view. Though the Oshawott's face quickly became full of amazement.

"You sure this is a good idea?" the Chimchar asked.

"Relax, Pikachu was the guy who taught me about Looping. He's cool. And since the Trainer hasn't spazzed out about talking Pokémon yet he's probably a Looper too," Squirtle replied with a smile.

"Holy Crap, It's Red!" Oshawott shouted, derailing the argument before it could really begin.

"Yeah, that's me," Red replied with a smile. "I take it you know them?" he asked Pikachu.

The mouse nodded. "Squirtle is the Anchor for the Rescue Team part of the MD Loops, we met during a Fused Loop a while back."

Squirtle nodded. "And these guys are Chimchar, Anchor for Explorers, and Oshawott, Anchor for Gates to Infinity. We seem to cross more with each other than you guys."

"Well, as you know, I'm Red, and I'm Anchor for the Pokémon Special Loops. Right now we're in a flat version of Black and White's region. So want to... what is it they do in here again...? Oh right, convince the world that the bonds between humans and Pokémon shouldn't be severed and subsequently reveal the evil scheme of Ghetsis who plans on using Team Plasma to make it so that only he can have Pokémon and rule the world with an iron fist backed up by either Reshiram or Zekrom?"

One by one the humans-turned-Water-Types and the Fire Type Partner shrugged their agreement. "Sure, we've got nothing better to do."

Further conversation was interrupted by a cry of "Red!" and a blue blur as a Poliwag through itself at its trainer.

"Poli! You're here too?" Red asked the blue ball in his arms. "Is anyone else?"

"I'm here, Red," Poli replied, "but I haven't seen any of the others yet."

"Well, we're all going region romping," Red told the now-Poliwag. "Want to come?"

"Definitely."

* * *

By the time that Red got into Accumula Town Proper his patience was already wearing thin. Flat Game variants were always a pain to deal with because they always started out roughly the same. However, he was surprised to see Ghetsis out so openly so close to the beginning of the loop. "Wow, what a Plot Dump," Oshawott said. "And I could have sworn the dude was going to say and I am most definitely not a villain, I mean, sheesh, obvious much?"

"Your Pokémon..." Red snapped his head around as N walked up to him. "Just now it was saying..." Red slightly flinched; N could be a pretty creepy guy sometimes. "...What's a Plot Dump?" Red's brain partially froze as he tried to comprehend that question.

Thankfully Flat Cheren covered for him. "Slow down. You talk too fast. And what's this about Pokémon... talking? That's a weird thing to say."

N frowned, but then turned to Red, "...And what's your opinion?"

Red simply sighed and said, "It's been a long day."

"...But you understand them," N pressed.

Red looked over at Flat Cheren who had simply frozen. "Uh, yeah, could for a while now."

N's face lit up. "That's wonderful! I wish that I could stay and talk with someone else who truly understands Pokémon, but I feel as though I must go. I hope that we meet again soon..."

"I'm Cheren and she's Red," came the scripted dialogue.

"All... right..." N said uncertainly looking between Red and Cheren.

"It's been a _long_ day," Red deadpanned as an explanation.

"Right then, I'll be going if that's all," N said as he walked away. Red and his team watched him walk away feeling as though they had forgotten something.

It wasn't until Cheren mentioned battling the Striaton City Gym leader that they realized what it was. "Hey, wait!" Pikachu exclaimed. "Weren't we supposed to Battle N?"

* * *

"Welcome, miss." Red ignored the snickering of his team, as he talked to the blue haired man outside of the café that Pikachu assured him was the Striaton Gym. "Yes, I am Gym Leader of this town. And you are...?"

"Red," the boy replied.

"Yes, you must be here to Challenge the Gym. Well, miss Red-" The snickering had turned into Pokémon coughing to hide their laughter. "What was the first Pokémon you chose?"

"Pikachu," Red replied, now somewhat curious as to what would happen.

"Pikachu, a Fire-Type... I see. It's weak against Water-Types."

"A Fire-Type? What's he thinking?" Squirtle asked.

"I'm part Fire-Type," Pikachu replied with a grin.

"Yeah, and I'm a Cubone," the Explorers Anchor said.

The others looked at him and Poli hesitated, "Um... Actually..."

The Explorers Anchor looked down and saw that he was a Cubone. "_Damnit_, not again!" When he noticed three of his companions giving him strange looks he sighed as he explained, "Some Loops I just spontaneously change species, doesn't last long. I can never tell when it's going to happen and I can't control it yet otherwise it would be awesome." The other two Mystery Dungeon natives nodded, confirming that this was a somewhat common thing for all of them.

"Anyway," Pikachu replied, after giving the now-Cubone another dry look. "I spent a Loop as a member of the Charmander line so it's Honorary if nothing else. Hey, Red," Pikachu said to grab the current Human's attention. "Can I take this Gym? ...Please?" He added Pika Eyes for good measure.

"Uh, sure," he replied unnerved. "Any particular reason?"

"I have a thing about Sea Monkeys. Panpour is close enough to set it off," Pikachu replied.

* * *

"Your Pikachu is strong, but can it handle the downpour that is my Panpour?" Cress asked.

"Please allow me to respond in the following way," Pikachu began. The battlefield seemed to tense as the ambient voltage skyrocketed. Sparks began to shoot off where ever there was a corner. Then it gathered into Pikachu's palms. he made sparks dance between two of his fingers, and pulled back on the tiny arc, pulling the stream like rubber. He lined up his shot, thankfully either Cress and Panpour were too surprised to react or it was one of the variants where if you had higher speed the opponent couldn't react until both trainers had declared what move their Pokémon would use.** "Lighting Snap!"** Pikachu cried as he released the arc and it hurtled off towards a wall. It bounced off of the wall without slowing, now heading for the ceiling, then at the ground, it deflected off a rock towards a different wall, then back to the ceiling, wall, wall, rock, ceiling, wall, floor, wall, buzzed by Cress making the man's hair stand on end, wall, ceiling, deflected off another rock and hit the Panpour right between the eyes. It struck with the force of a true lightning bolt. Panpour fainted. "Yes! I love that about these Loops! Even if we accidentally overpower the techniques we don't kill anyone! Also, Bullseye!"

"I see, so you guarded against Pikachu's weakness to Water by teaching it off-Type moves that are strong against the Types of Pokémon that are strong against Fire. An interesting strategy. Well it proves that you are worthy of the Trio Badge," he said, holding out a piece of metal that Red was sure touching should have paralyzed a limb or more.

"Thanks," Red replied, letting Cress put it into his badge case for him.

"It's no trouble at all, Miss," Cress replied, not noticing the dark look that crossed over Red's face. "I wish you luck on the rest of your journey."

* * *

4.3

N looked across at his almost perfect double. "This just seems weird," he couldn't help but comment.

The person across from him rolled his eyes, which were brown rather than N's usual grey. "It's not my fault I Looped in as a Ditto this Loop and wanted to know what it was like to be human. On the other hand, I hope I get to add Transform to my Loop powers because of this."

N just shook his head. "Still, though, what am I even supposed to call you when you're like this?" he asked.

The other considering this. "Hm...how about P? I've already used it once before when I Looped in as the Raikage in Naruto's Loop. Actually, a lot of people around there only have 1 letter names. You'd fit right in, N," said Pikachu with a smirk.

N winced at that. "Actually..."

Pikachu was taken aback. "You mean you actually _have_ a full name? I honestly thought your name was just N,"

N was sheepish. "I...I don't like talking about it. It's embarrassing," he muttered.

"Well, come on; it can't be_ that_ bad," Pikachu said.

"Trust me, it is," N said as he shuddered. And with a name like his, you couldn't blame him for only using the first letter.

"...Well, what is it?" Pikachu couldn't help but ask.

N sighed before just saying it. "...Natural Harmonia Gropius."

Pikachu blankly stared at him, before falling onto the floor and laughing incessantly.

N turned red. "IT'S NOT FUNNY!" he yelled.

* * *

4.4

Ash and Pikachu both Woke Up just as they left Pallet Town...and promptly collapsed on the ground, exhausted from the last Loop. "{Just what the hell was Ho-Oh _thinking_?!}" Pikachu exclaimed. He didn't even have enough energy left to speak in any human tongues that he knew.

Ash was much the same; too tired to even try to roll over, as he had fallen flat on his face. "I have no idea...but we're going to have to warn the others about that particular variant," he mumbled through the dirt. Fortunately, Pikachu was fluent in Silent Protagonist and was able to figure out what he was saying.

"{Yeah...but after that, we're not speaking of it.}"

"Of course not. Who would _want_ to willingly remember _THAT_?"

* * *

4.5 (Conceptulist)

"Sew, wat dis Loop lik?" asked Ash Spellum. "I gets I needs me some Grammarmonses to speech right, but's iz anystuff else go down?"

Past Participle winced at the mangled verbiage. {In short. No. Nothing happens. Instead of Gyms, there are Schools. Instead of battles, there are tests. Most wild Grammarmon join trainer teams to try and teach the trainer how to use the rule of grammar they represent. It's like a horde of Grammar Nazis, running around yelling at everyone. The only good thing about this loop is that this time you're Awake to suffer through it with me.}"

Ash nodded, and wisely kept his mouth shut. For a moment or two. Then, he began to smile. A snicker quickly ensued, and it grew into a roaring chuckle in short order.

The Verb type mouse stared at Ash. "{What's so funny?}"

"Yuz a cleanly oldster... Damz it! Stupidest loop evar!" Ash complained. "Iz funny, butz I cannt speech et right."

Past Participle smirked.

Ash pouted. "Lik yuz try to speech human waz any betterist!"

"{Ash. You can understand me, so the solution is simple. Use Pokespeak instead.}" chided Past Participle.

Ash facepalmed. "{Why didn't I think of that? Also, can you understand me now?}"

Past Participle nodded. "{Now, what were you saying?}"

"{Great!}" Ash exclaimed. "{Now, I was saying you're a washed up old has-been and that this loop proves it.}"

Past Participle blinked confusedly, thought about his in-loop species, and then facepawed. "{Ash, that was a stupid pun.}"

Ash resumed his earlier bout of pouting. "{Well, I thought it was funny.}"

* * *

4.6 (zeusdemigod313)

"So what's the plan this time, buddy?" Ash asked. This time around only he and Pikachu were Awake as far as he could tell.

Pikachu shrugged. "I don't know, wanna see if we can get Arceus to," The anchor smirked. "'Talk' with Giovanni and team leaders?"

Ash smiled; messing with the Alpha Pokemon was always a blast, as long as he didn't crash the Loop.

But before Ash could say anything something that wouldn't normally have happened, or at least not for about a week, happened.

A large steel hand, attached to a steel cable, shot from the bushes and grabbed Pikachu, catching the Electric-Type by surprise and yanking him into the air. "Whoa!"

Just before Pikachu disappeared from sight, the source of the attack came into view, causing Ash to groan.

_"Prepare for trouble."  
"And make it double."_

_"To protect the world from devastation."  
"To unite all peoples within our nation."  
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."  
"To extend our reach to the stars above."_

_"Jessie!"_

_"James!"_

_"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light."  
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight."_

_"Meowth! That's right!"_

Ash mimed the words with his hand as the Team Rocket's balloon floated from its hiding place amongst the treetops.

Pikachu rolled his eyes.

"Well... twerp." Jessie began. "Looks like we finally got your Pikachu," Ash almost missed the uncertainty in her voice, but he didn't miss what she said.

"Finally?" He asked.

Before Jessie could respond, Meowth cut in. "That don't matter now, cause we're... gonna give this Pikachu... to, the boss."

Both Loopers noticed that Meowth lacked his usual exuberance, ignoring what he knew was a bunch of useless threats, Pikachu spoke up. "{Are you alright?}" He spoke normal Pokemon, so as to not freak out Jessie or James... yet.

Meowth frowned momentarily, but gritted his teeth. "What's it to ya, runt?"

Pikachu frowned, normally Meowth wasn't so high strung, he looked back down to Ash, who just shrugged. Pikachu turned back to Team Rocket, he noticed that James wasn't even looking towards them, he was just slumped against the railing of the balloon, staring at the ground.

"What's up with him?" Pikachu asked, switching to English.

The trio suddenly stopped, one by one their eyes all widened and their mouths hung open.

"You can talk?!" They shouted together.

Pikachu smiled. "Yep, and I can also do this," He shot an Ember attack at the balloon, poking a small hole in it and, thankfully, causing it to fall to the ground, except for the basket which, along with Jessie, James and Meowth, got tangled in the trees.

As Pikachu freed himself from the metal hand and Ash walked over to the struggling sorta villains, the three fell from the basket and landed face down in front of the Loopers.

Pikachu just stood in front of them, glaring at the three. "I think we may need to have a talk."

* * *

Pikachu, Ash, Jessie, James, and Meowth, sat in the kitchen of the Ketchum residence.

"You seriously expect us to believe you?" Jessie scoffed.

"Considering that, A. You know me and you have no reason to. B. You're still here. And C. You mentioned several things that haven't happened yet but are going to, yes," Pikachu explained, crossing his arms.

James frowned. "Well...what about Dialga? Or Celebi? They could be causing all of this; we've gotten sucked into their time travel before."

Ash sighed. Explaining the Loops was hard enough when it was his friends, and while Team Rocket wasn't his enemy per se, he understood why they didn't trust him.

"Look you three," He began. "Everyone else thought the same thing when they first started, even me, but we really are telling you the truth."

Jessie gritted her teeth, she didn't want to believe it, but the twerp was making some good points. "Prove it," She challenged, not expecting what came next.

Pikachu pointed to Jessie. "Jessie, your mother, a member of Team Rocket, died when you were young while she was on a mission to find Mew, you left your foster home to attend Pokemon nursing school but flunked out, you then went to Pokemon Tech where you met James, after your education you joined Bridge Bike Gang, when you joined Team Rocket you were reunited with James and met Meowth, you also tend to enter contests under thinly veiled aliases."

He turned to James. "James, you come from a wealthy family but your parents never had time for you and you hated all the social regulations that came along with it, your only relief was when you stayed with an elderly couple in the Battle Frontier, you also attended Pokemon Tech but after you got fed up with it you took to traveling with your Growlithe, Growlie, you not so secretly hate your arranged fiancee Jessibelle, who shares a startling resemblance to Jessie."

Pikachu finally looked to Meowth. "Meowth, you use to be a stray member of a Meowth gang led by a Persian in Hollywood, you learned to talk to impress a Meowzie, the Meowth you had a crush on, however she called you a freak and that led you to eventually join Team Rocket, when you couldn't be a good butler Giovanni assigned you to your little group and Meowzie rejected you again when after you beat the Persian when you returned to Hollywood."

The trio were stunned silent. "How did you...?" James began.

"We told you," Ash answered. "Time Loops."

* * *

It was the following day and the Looping members of Team Rocket were sitting together on the hill overlooking Professor Oak's Pokemon Lab along with Ash and Pikachu.

"How long?" Jessie asked. "Just how long has this been going on?"

Pikachu looked to Ash. "A few thousand maybe?" Keeping track of Loops was virtually impossible, although Pikachu knew a few Loopers had ways of doing it.

"And just how long does our... "Loop" last?" Meowth added.

"Baseline goes until after the Kalos League," Ash answered. "Although exact time is a bit hard to figure out, all the times we've interacted with Legendaries aren't always there, except for Mewtwo that is."

"How many others?" James inquired.

"Well, I'm the Anchor," Pikachu began. "Ash, Brock, Misty, May, and some of each of their Pokemon; we haven't had an official head count in a while."

"I can't believe this," Jessie said, shaking her head. "It's impossible."

"That's what I thought," Pikachu said. "And by the way, asking us these questions over and over is not going to make the answers any less true."

"Why are you helping us anyway?" Meowth asked. "Not like you have any reason to."

"See Meowth that's where you're wrong," Ash interjected. "While you guys weren't the... nicest people the first time around you were far from the worse, you helped save the world and even just wild Pokemon on several occasions, and you never did any lasting harm."

"Besides," Pikachu added with a smile. "You're not the only Loopers who had a bad Baseline, or so I've been told."

The trio looked at Pikachu and Ash. "You really believe that, don't you?" Asked James.

"Well yeah," Pikachu replied. "This one time some chaos god Looped in and replaced Hoopa, he told us that-"

"Not that," Meowth stopped him. "About us, being... not bad?"

"The term I'd use is Anti-Hero," Ash answered. "You really did do some good."

"And you'd really just... trust us?" Jessie asked in disbelief.

"Well..." Ash started. "Not entirely at first, but given enough time I'd be happy to count you three as friends."

"Not like you could really do any serious harm," Pikachu added. "Even when Arceus crashes the Loop it doesn't cause any lasting damage."

The three looked at each other, then went into a group huddle. Ash and Pikachu exchanged glances, they knew that these three weren't really bad, but if they used the Loops to their advantage they could cause some serious trouble for Non-Loopers.

After a while they broke the huddle and walked over to Ash and Pikachu. "Well?" The Anchor asked. "What's up?"

"We've decided," James said silently.

"And you decided what exactly?" Ash inquired.

The three looked to each other, as if affirming what was to be done, then Jessie opened her mouth to say...

* * *

Giovanni sat at his desk, tapping a finger against the wood, the Boss of Team Rocket was waiting for a mission report from a few of his Kanto agents, and the messenger was late.

When the man finally did enter the room, his hands were shaking and he wore an expression that clearly said. "Don't shoot the messenger." He handed a letter to and a Pokeball to Giovanni, then quickly left the room.

Giovanni put down the Pokeball and unfolded the letter, as he read it, his expression turned to one of disbelief, then rage.

_Official resignation of former Team Rocket members Jessie, James, and Meowth._

_We quit! As such, we've sent back the Pokemon you gave us, if you come after us you'll sorely regret it._

_P.S. We're keeping the outfits_

_P.P.S. You and your lap cat can rot in the Distortion World for all of eternity._

Giovanni glared at the paper, then he crumpled it up and threw it across the room, snarling, already planning on sending out his best agents to hunt down those traitors and teach them that no one leaves Team Rocket.

Then he remembered the Pokeball. "But I didn't send them any Pokemon." He said in confusion. He grabbed the sphere and tossed it into the air, where it burst open in a flash of white light as the Pokemon reformed on the floor.

"Electrode!"

Giovanni's eyes widened. "Oh, Shi-"

**BOOM!**

Giovanni laid limply on the floor as the Electric-Types grinned and rolled out a gaping hole that use to be a wall.

As it did a piece of paper that had been safely tucked away in the Pokeball fluttered to the ground, right next to the man.

_P.P.P.S. Police enroute, have a nice day._

* * *

"You know you didn't have to blow him up right?" Ash asked rhetorically as turned off the news report showcasing the shutdown of Team Rocket.

"Yeah," Meowth smirked. "But after you told us all he does over the years, we figured he deserved it."

"Fair enough." Ash said with a shrug. "But for the record, explosions aren't the answer to every problem."

"Isn't that how you normally deal with us though? Jessie grinned knowingly.

Ash and Pikachu thought about that for a moment, then turned the TV back on.

* * *

4.7 (barryc100588)

Ash was standing in front of Trip, his Pikachu on his shoulder. Pikachu hadn't been fast enough to avoid Zekrom's bolt of lightning this loop, and it seemed to be even more powerful than usual, having still sapped Pikachu's electricity. "Well, Pikachu, looks like you're stuck with your attacks that aren't Electric-Type. Still want to fight?" Ash asked his partner. Pikachu nodded and jumped to the ground, getting into a battle stance.

"I'm sending out my Snivy. Give us a win, Snivy!" Trip declared as he threw the Pokeball. The Grass Snake emerged in a flash of white light, and she stood proudly.

Professor Oak was the one overseeing this fight. "This'll be a one on one trainer battle. The battle will be over when either Pokemon's HP hits 0 or either trainer forfeits. Both Pokemon's levels have been adjusted to 50, in accordance to Pokemon League Rules, but keep the attacks they started with. Neither Pokemon will gain experience from this battle. Neither trainer will have to give money to the loser. Do you agree to these terms?" The wizened professor declared. Both ask and Trip nodded. "Then let the battle begin!"

Ash smiled. "I'll go first! Pikachu, use Quick Attack!" He declared. Pikachu let out a shout as he gather energy before charging off quickly.

Trip smirked. "Snivy, counter with Leaf Tornado!" Snivy focused his Grass-type energy into his tail with a cry and unleashed a tornado of leaves at Pikachu. The Electric Mouse was caught in the tornado and flung around, getting scratched up by the sharp leaves before being sent flying to his side of the arena. Ash pulled out his Pokedex to scan Pikachu and found him to have some health left, but he took a heavy hit. Pikachu glowed pink as he hit the ground.

"Man. If that had been a critical hit, Pikachu would have been done for. Because of the Level 50 restriction, all of Pikachu's stats are greatly reduced. And with his Special Attack reduced, he can't force his way past Zekrom's block. As it is, Pikachu's Accuracy was lowered," He shook his head. "Pikachu, use Double Team!" Pikachu got to his feet and glowed white before he split into many copies with a shout. The copies all surrounded Snivy and spun in circles as Snivy tried to watch them all.

Trip frowned. "Calm down Snivy. That Pikachu took a hit to its Accuracy, so it'll be harder for him to hit you. Especially if it knows Iron Tail. That move already has a 70% accuracy rate. With his base accuracy dropped by one-sixth for this battle, such a move would be unwise," Snivy calmed down and nodded. "Good, now surround yourself in Leaf Tornado and when I say so, unleash it in all directions!"

Ash was shocked, as that was the basis for Leaf Storm. If Snivy pulled this off, Pikachu would lose. Snivy focused and started glowing green. "Pikachu, dash in with Agility and use Iron Tail!" Pikachu gave a cry and dashed forward, his tail glowing like steel. He gave a flip and swung his tail down in an explosion of smoke and a cry from Snivy. "Did he hit?"

Trip was shocked. "He can't have hit Snivy! The odds weren't in his favor!" As the dust cleared, Snivy was prone on the ground, but struggling to stand and glowing pink. "He did. He hit Snivy and Lowered Snivy's Defense in the process..." The beginner trainer pulled his Pokedex out and scanned Snivy. "Snivy's barely hanging on. This last attack could be all Snivy has."

Ash frowned. "Pikachu hit, but the attack wasn't critical. Snivy must have had a little more hit points than Iron Tail did in damage. The good thing is that Snivy's defense was lowered. But Pikachu might not survive Snivy's counter." He looked at Pikachu concerned. "Can you continue, buddy?"

Pikachu nodded. "{You know I can, Ash.}"

Ash nodded. "Get ready to jump over this Leaf Tornado, Pikachu."_ 'If only Pikachu could use Aerial Ace, we might be able to get a win.'_ Ash's eyes widened. "That's it!"

Trip smirked. "It's too late! Snivy, unleash your Leaf Tornado!" Snivy nodded and gave a cry. The tornado formed and exploded outward, destroying all the copies of Pikachu, but not expanding into the sky.

Ash noticed that and smiled. "Pikachu, jump into the air, then use Quick Attack to lead into Aerial Ace!" _'As a Flying-Type Move, Pikachu shouldn't need his electricity to use Aerial Ace. I just hope this works.'_

Trip was shocked._ 'Did my opponent just throw the match?! Pikachu can't use Aerial Ace! And if he uses Quick Attack from that height, Pikachu risks being seriously injured!'_

Pikachu nodded and used his tail to jump into the air, high above the leaf explosion. He then glanced at Snivy and flew forward. As he was flying, his pupils contracted to take aim. Wisps of energy started flying off him as he flew. The wisps helped guide Pikachu to Snivy, and before Trip or Snivy could act, Pikachu bowled the Grass Snake over in an explosion of dust. When the dust settled, Pikachu was standing over Snivy, whose eyes were swirls.

Trip sighed. "I can't believe it. That Pikachu actually used Aerial Ace." He pulled out his Poke Ball and returned Snivy before looking at Ash. "Either you have severe dumb luck, or a great training style. I thought Pikachu couldn't battle without its Electric-type Moves, since its Physical Attack stat was abysmal. But you proved me wrong today. You taught me a thing or two about Pokemon battles."

* * *

4.8 (AbZHz101)

Ash and his team stood with the other humans and trained Pokémon, staring Mewtwo down from across the field. "Send out your first," Mewtwo directed. Charizard jumped forward before another trainer could send in one of their own. He had been _waiting_ for this. The clone stepped forward to mimic him. Charizard closed his eyes and envisioned that he was in the back of a narrow straight cave... behind him, not even a step back, was what he had to protect. The ceiling was low, he could barely raise to his full height without scraping his head against the rock. The cave was barely wider than his body width when he set himself into the ready position. He would not back up a nanometer, he couldn't afford to. It was one of his favorite tricks for when he needed to go all out from the beginning. It was said that the Charmander line was descended from Dragon Types, that had needed to fight off so many Ice Types from their high altitude mountain homes that their Draconic nature had morphed into a Fire Typing. Charizard didn't know if that was true, but he knew what helped get him into the groove and this was it.

He could feel his internal heat rising to the challenge, to strike down the obstacle in his path. Charizard's eyes snapped open and the doppelganger was rushing towards him. Charizard smirked as the clone streaked toward him and at the last moment caught Charizardtwo mid-flight, stopping the attack cold. Charizard smirked at the clone's surprise, lifted his opponent higher, twisted the Pokémon so that it was belly up, put his hand at the base of the other's throat, and slammed Charizardtwo into the ground. His feet hadn't moved. Then to make his point perfectly clear, he lightly placed his foot on the clone's head. "{I win.}" At Mewtwo's snarl he took his foot off of his opponent and carried the nearly-unconscious clone off the battlefield.

He watched with his trainer as their side's Blastoise and Venusaur were defeated. As the Venasaur clone was turning away he returned to his earlier position. "What are you doing?" Mewtwo questioned with a mental jab like razor wire.

"{Oh, sorry,}" Charizard retorted. "{I thought this was a three-on-three battle. You know, fight until one side has no more Pokémon. Guess you decided to change your own rules because you're scared and a sore loser.}" Charizard smirked as he saw Mewtwo's head whip over to the Blastoise for a mental command. Then he closed his eyes and returned to the cave. When he opened his eyes this time he had two streams of water barreling at him. As the high pressure streams of water ran over his body he slightly crouched forward and exploded at his opponent. He burst through the Hydro Pump with the advice, "{Tell your _trainer_ to _train_ you in _how to take a hit!_}" Charizard emphasized this by slamming the Blastoise clone onto the ground, back first. "{You know,}" Charizard said with a smirk at his opponent. "{I heard there's this plumber who makes a living doing this... _Koopa Kick!_}" he shouted, booting it off the stage and into the wall. "{Two to Two,}" Charizard told Mewtwo with a smirk.

As he returned to his starting line for a third time and reentered his inner cave Charizard thought that he as almost to his target. Once he got through the Venasaur then that would be it. The Grass/Poison Type was at the mouth of the cave in a moment, throwing forward Razor Leaves and Multiple Status inducing powders. He had only one response to that... they would all _burn_. An inferno came out of his gut and incinerated everything in it's path. He had intended that the blaze let up just as it would have hit the Venasaur clone, he had no real quarrel with it so he didn't want its death... it simply had the misfortune to be a block in his path. Again he picked the cloned Pokémon up and moved him to the off the battlefield, as he was doing so he couldn't resist one last jab. "{Looks like I've only been made stronger because of my human,}" Charizard shot at Mewtwo. "{And that strength was enough to beat your entire team!}"

"Arrogant, insufferable fool!" Mewtwo snapped back intending to capture Charizard in a prison. Charizard, though reacted faster, Slashing through the faux Pokeball.

"{What the hell was that?}" Charizard roared indignantly.

"Humanity forces restrictions onto us. They abuse us for their own gain, alter Nature and Destiny to suit their whims! I will not stand for it anymore! I'll kill them all! And then, I will find those like you that managed to become strong despite Humanity's interference. I will take you and free you from those chains and you will all reach your full potential!" Mewtwo offered.

If anything that seemed to make Charizard even more furious, a glow erupted around his body. "{All I'm hearing from you is whining,}" he ground out. "{About how your life is so unfair because you didn't get everything laid out before you when you were born. About how what others thought your purpose in life was and how you thought differently and that everyone was in some conspiracy to keep you down. Well guess what? You're fighting with shadows, setting scum as the standard and not the unpleasant exception. Yeah, there are some humans out there that if they died I would probably cheer, but do you know what? They are few and far between. You want to know what else? For all you've claimed that you are the most powerful... all I've seen from you is a lot of bitching, whining when things don't go your way, and some cheap ass parlor tricks. You're not the most powerful being on the planet; you're just a spoiled rotten brat that needs a good spanking!}" he yelled as he hurtled towards Mewtwo. The Psychic Pokémon reacted by throwing up a Barrier... which held for all of five seconds.

Ash watched as Charizard tried to take on Mewtwo singlehanded. He knew that Charizard could take on a Legendary Pokémon, he had been the one to defeat Nolan's Articuno after all, but he also doubted that Mewtwo would play fair. He was also slightly worried about why Charizard was acting this way. But he could not ponder that for long. Sure enough he could see more of those balls that Mewtwo used during new island "Everyone, support Charizard!" he told his team, tossing out Bulbasaur and Squirtle's Pokeballs. Those two together with Pikachu used a wide spread of Thundershock, Razor Leaf, and Water Gun to keep Mewtwo's "reinforcements" from reaching Charizard, but a few of them were still getting through.

Pikachu noticed this and decided that he'd need something with a bit more coverage, and decided to pull out a move he hadn't done in a while. He started running towards the wall, separating the stands from the battlefield, cheeks sparking with electricity. In his wake was an expanding wave of electric potential. He ran around the stadium once to eliminate any that had already come through, then aimed at the entrance where they were all coming from and stopped just short, allowing his own electricity to wash over him.

The light show distracted Mewtwo for a moment as the flame on Charizard's tail temporarily burned purple and green. It rushed up his tail as he swung it around, breaking through Mewtwo's compromised defenses and flinging him into the stands below hard enough to crack stone. "{Enough!}" a new voice cried. Charizard broke off his attack, his flames returned to their normal tint, and his aura disappeared. The Fire Type turned to the Mother of All Pokémon, Mew. "{I think you have made your point rather clearly,}" Mew stated dryly.

"{Just one more thing, I have to make clear,}" he responded. Charizard then turned to Mewtwo, "{If you ever plan on hurting Ash, know this: Not even Arceus himself will save you from our wrath!}" He flew back to the rest of Ash's team and tried to land, but overbalanced and fell onto the stone. "{I think I'm going to be out of it for a while,}" he mentioned before falling unconscious.

* * *

4.9 (Lord Circe)

Red and Poli strode through the Viridian forest. They had just wrapped up the Mewtwo situation (Pika had asked to solo that battle), and now they were headed to rescue Yellow from the rampaging Dratini. Red still wasn't sure how the Dratini ended up in Viridian forest, but it happen regularly as clockwork after they helped Blaine catch Mewtwo.

"You want to take it this time?"

Poli flexed, and Red laughed. All of his Pokemon had a soft-spot for the gentle Viridian girl. Red had to admit he admired the way she was able to care for all Pokemon.

The pair had just entered the clearing when a laughing shout caught their attention. The two of them glanced at each other before running forward.

Yellow was being "attacked" by Dratini, but it was an attack of affection rather than the rampaging charge Red was used to._ 'Is this Loop actually a Variant? Usually differences show up earlier,'_ Red pondered as he watched Yellow play with the Dratini she had obviously befriended.

Yellow glanced up as they approached, and her face lit up. She raised her arm to wave, then paused and her smile faded. A hopeful suspicion bloomed in Red's mind.

"Hello. Um, my name is Yellow. What's yours?"

Red grinned. "Red, and I have to say, I am glad Saur and I didn't need to rescue you this time."

Yellow blinked. "Are you reliving our adventure too?"

Red nodded. "Yep. Let me explain."

* * *

4.10 (Filraen)

Ash watched the Meowth balloon carrying Pikachu get away, a storm of emotions conflicting with each other. He wanted to pursue Team Rocket, to take his ever-present friend and partner from all his lives back but he knew he shouldn't, he couldn't.

It had taken the best part of two days for Pikachu at the Viridian City Pokemon Center to explain himself, and it made sense. It was something Pikachu just couldn't do while in a traveling Pokemon journey, not when his partner had so many chances (even more than Ash himself, he now realized) and hasn't able to. And Pikachu didn't want to leave a non-remembering version of Ash alone believing he was a uncaring trainer.

But his friend had chose this path this whole life because he didn't know how long it will take. Ash felt regret at being unable to help Pikachu other than getting accommodations with Professor Oak but was grateful to his partner who was doing all this effort for himself.

Cleaning tears from his eyes Ash whispered. "Be well, Pikachu. See you later in our next life."

* * *

Meowth didn't know where this abduction had gone wrong. They were in the balloon, getting swiftly away from that twerp and with this great Pikachu specimen on cargo, when suddenly he broke his cage and made the whole balloon basket a pandemonium. Before he knew it, he and the Pikachu were across the basket which suddenly felt far, far smaller that it felt this morning. And Jessie and James...

"Meowth, help!"

"We're going to fall!"

... weren't of much help right now, desperately gripping the end of a rope hanging off the balloon.

"{So, Meowth. Do I have your attention now?}" The Pikachu said while standing between Meowth and Ekans and Koffing's Poke Balls

"W-What do you want?"

"{So it's true; there was a human talking Meowth around here,}" Pikachu shook slowly his head. "{What happened, wanted to impress a kitty who rejected you for being a freak?}"

Meowth blushed instantly. "How did you know?"

"{I'm part Psychic-type. Anyway, now that I have your attention I want to talk. I have an offer for you.}"

"Meowth, hurry up!" James' voice interrupted the Pikachu.

"Wait a moment, James!" Meowth shouted back. "Remember dat I'm in charge and I'm in negotiatin' right now." When Meowth's attention returned to the Pikachu he was holding a disk in a plastic box. Where had the Pikachu gotten it from? Wait a tic, he recognized the design! "Don't tell me dat is...?"

The Pikachu just smiled "{Yes, Meowth. This is a Technical Machine; number 16 from the Kanto catalog, which contains the instructions you could use to learn Pay Day,}" then the Pikachu placed the disk in the middle of the basket. "{There are more from where it came from; consider it a first payment for long-term services, plus accommodations and food as long as you refrain from stealing from your hosts.}"

While Meowth didn't trust the Pikachu, the allure of using proper attacks other than Fury Swipes was too strong to resist. "What do I have to do?"

Pikachu looked at him in the eye. "{I want you to teach me to speak human.}"

* * *

4.11 (Khelder)

"{So, with Team Rocket distracted by that fake Moon-Stone you let them 'steal', it's time to get the Cascade badge. Most people usually have more Pokémon at this point though.}"

Kakashi looked up from tending the campfire and shrugged.

"They seem happy enough where they are. Anything I should know for the gym?"

"{It's a water gym, but if you're lucky, then the three eldest Sensational Sisters will just hand you the badge...}"

* * *

_The next day..._

"You were saying?"

Pikachu scowled. It seemed that Misty had heard about Brock's 'shocking' defeat, and returned home as fast as her (undamaged) bike could carry her. From her floating platform in the pool, she called over to the Looping pair stood at the edge.

"You're here to challenge me? Well, take your places, and let's get started!"

Kakashi and Pikachu looked at each other, eyebrows raised, before both walking forwards.

"Mind if I start this time?" Kakashi muttered, ignoring the gawking spectators.

"{Sure. Wouldn't want to make things _too_ easy now, would we?}" Reaching their platform, the duo stepped off the water and dropped into stance.

* * *

Facing off against Staryu, Kakashi dodged the first few attacks, then dived beneath the water. Pikachu peered into the depths, frowning, and then jumped back upon hearing Kakashi declare **"Earth Flow Spears."**

Large pillars of rock erupted in blasts of spray, scoring a glancing blow against Staryu. As the Pokémon used Recover, Kakashi returned to the surface, before hastily blocking a Tackle.

"Hnn... Unexpected. **Mudslide.**"

The nearest pillar crumbled towards them. Darting back, the ninja didn't quite dodge the Water Gun that struck his leg, hard. Fortunately, his opponent fared no better, and was returned by Misty. As Starmie burst forth from the Pokéball, Kakashi limped off to the platform.

"{Now who's not being very impressive?}"

"I'm not as fit as I usually am. Nothing a few weeks training won't remedy."

"{And you forgot he could heal.}"

Pikachu jumped onto the water lightly, eyeing the remaining pillars carefully, planning his moves.

**"{Mudslap. Underground Projection Fish. Rockslide.}"** Slipping into one pillar, and bursting out from one behind the blinded Water Pokémon, Pikachu struck her down with rocks ranging in size from pebbles to small boulders. Turning to the Gym leader, he asked, "{Need any help with the clean-up?}"

* * *

"Well, I found it amusing"

"{Shut up. So, I forgot she couldn't understand me? What's the big deal!}"

They were on the road to Vermillion City, two Gym Badges pinned to Kakashi's jacket.

"Speaking of big deals, why the reaction to my choice of moves? The water walking was probably a shock, sure..."

Pikachu paused in the middle of the road, staring at Kakashi.

"{Right. Ninja. Of course. I thought you were just trolling everyone, but for you Lightning beats Rock, and Rock beats Water.}"

Kakashi stared back, equally incredulous. Pikachu elaborated.

"{Well, Ground nullifies Lightning. Water conducts Lightning, but puts out Fire. Fire burns Wood, and so on... I generally get past it with a little extra juice, but I might experiment with mixing some Chakra into my Aura now? Something to think about.}"

"So, the next Gym is Lightning typed? I was going to say Wind attacks, or Flying by your system, but..." He checked the Pokédex "...Yup, that's weak against Lightning. Of course. May as well roll with it though - and you were probably right about needing a new partner too."

* * *

4.12 (jxz)

Ash saw the sight in front of him.

He was replacing Kamina in a Gurren Lagann Loop, while Pikachu was replacing Simon.

They hadn't felt anyone else Looping, but they had spent only one or two Loops in Naruto's Loop, and thus they hadn't perfected the use of the Ping.

Right now, he was hunting for some food, as Kamina used to do every Loop.

Then he saw that there was someone replacing Viral.

"Let me tell ya three things, twerp. First, I'm Meowral, commander of the human eradication unit. Second, Ya'll have to explain me why am I some sort of human/cat hybrid. Third, Tha hippo...grape...thing is my dinner, And I won't let ya take it."

Said "Person" being Meowth.

Ash sighed. This Loop would be a bit more interesting.

* * *

"Why did you decide to betray your own kind, Meowral?!" Thymilph demanded to know.

"...Meh, they have catnip." The cat Beastman said, as he launched a feral Fury Swipe to the Dai-Gunzan's "face", breaking it and sending the General Beastman and his main crew to a near rock.

"Now, guys!" He shouted at his fellow Loopers. They were glad Meowth was there. After all, Ash didn't like to die, even in Loops with afterlifes. Now, they had to think on how would they handle the Nia situation…

* * *

4.13 (Inkweaver22)

"...and that's what usually happens around here." Takeru Takaishi explained to the looper who was replacing his older brother.

"Sounds fun." Shigeru Ishida, known as Gary Oak in his home loop, replied as they wandered around the summer camp. "Can you tell who else is Awake?"

"From what I can feel, it's just you and me for the humans. Patamon is co-anchor, so he can tell us on who is on his side when we get to the Digital World. So do you want to go Baseline, or did you have something you wanted to do?"

"Hmm... Well, I'm still kinda new to all this, so let's go Baseline for now." Gary replied as he noticed a single snowflake float out of the sky. "Is it starting to snow?"

"Ah, that's our cue." Takeru switched directions, heading for some stairs that rose high into the mountain. "We'll be joining the others pretty soon. How good are you at playing the over protective older brother?"

"I think I'll be able to manage."

* * *

Gary groaned as he became conscience again. Stupid aurora-portal. He blinked as he felt something resting on him. Lifting his head, Gary saw what appeared to be some sort of green penguin, kappa, _thing_ sitting on his stomach and staring at him.

"It's about time you woke up, Gary!" The small In-Training chirped.

"How do you know my name?" Oak's grandson asked as he sat up, placing the small Digimon in his lap.

"You'd think your first Pokémon would know your name by now," The green bird-thing chuckled.

"Blastoise?"

"In the digital flesh! Although, right now I'm called Chapmon."

"Well this makes things a lot easier," Gary said as he stood. "By the way, I'm called Shigeru at the moment."

"It suits you," Blastoise/Chapmon replied as he allowed himself to be carried by his trainer. "Let's go meet up with the others. Tokomon said they would all be in the direction," He pointed a green flipper off to their right.

"Tokomon?"

"One of the Co-Anchors. I think he normally goes by Patamon."

"Did he tell you who all was Awake here?"

"Just us and some guy named Wizardmon. He apparently is new to the Loops like we are," The Pokémon-turned-Digimon squirmed in Gary's grip. "Now let's go! We have to get to the others before Kuwagamon does."

"Who?"

"A giant red beetle with a nasty temper, or so I'm told."

"Great," Gary sighed. "Let's get this over with."

* * *

"Chapmon digivolve to... Kamemon!"

Gary stood in awe as he watched Chapmon digivolve. (For the sake of preventing confusion, they decided to just go by his Digimon names for the duration of the loop.) It was different then how Pokémon evolved. Ok, it wasn't all that different, with the white glow and the changing shape, but it certainly felt different. It was like he was charged with pure energy and could almost feel the emotions of his partner.

**"Pointer Arrow!"** The cybernetic turtle launched an arrow-shaped missile in tandem with the other Rookie Digimon's attacks, causing Kuwagamon to burst into flames and disappear.

"Great job!" Gary praised as the others celebrated around them.

"What, that? That was nothing!" Kamemon puffed his chest out. "If I still had my cannons I could do a **Giga Drill Breaker** and vaporize that pathetic excuse of an insect."

"I still don't know how you were able to reverse engineer that when you haven't looped into that universe."

"It's Gurren Lagann. I just pour all my determination into making it work and it does."

"That..." Gary paused and furrowed his brow. "That actually makes sense. Should I be worried?"

Before the Rookie could reply, there was a loud roar as Kuwagamon reappeared. The giant beetle then proceeded to snap the cliff in two.

"You didn't tell us this was going to happen!" Gary shouted at Takeru as they fell.

"Oops?"

* * *

Gary screamed in pain as Seadramon squeezed him.

"Shigeru!" Kamemon shouted in desperation as he swam towards his human partner, using Gary's in-loop name to prevent suspicion. There was a loud screeching as Gary's digivice began to glow, just as Taichi's had earlier that day. "Kamemon digivolve to... Gwappamon!"

**"DJ Shooter!"** The kappa Digimon launched the disc on his head at the sea serpent at high speed, causing it to drop Gary into the water. Gwappamon dived down a quickly brought him back to the surface. After depositing him safely onto his shoulder, the Champion turned back to Seadramon. **"Gawappa Punch!"** He pummeled the serpent until it retreated back down into the depths of the lake.

Later that evening, Gary and Kamemon sat off from the others.

"Thanks for saving me." Gary said sincerely as they skipped stones across the water. The small turtle just shrugged, trying conceal a blush.

"Eh, I'm sure you could've taken him. And besides, I couldn't let my best friend get hurt."

"Do you really mean that?" Gary asked, somewhat taken aback.

"Of course! I mean, you're my trainer, partner, whatever. You're stuck with me no matter what." Gary chuckled at Kamemon's enthusiasm.

"Thanks Kame. Now, my memories say I'm pretty proficient with a harmonica. Want to hear some?"

* * *

Across the shore, Takeru smiled as a gentle melody drifted across the lake. A bond between a human and their Digimon partner was strong, even more so for loopers. He always enjoyed watching new bonds form between those who were close to begin with, especially the newer loopers. It was one of his favorite things caused by the loops. Yawning, he pulled his own partner close to him and prepared to go to sleep, wondering how the rest of the loop would play out.

* * *

4.14 (Jcogginsa)

An unawake Ash and Pikachu were hiking their way up to the peak of mount Coronet to foil Cyrus' plan once again. Brock and Dawn were awake but had other things they wanted to do this go around. Ash's team was the same as baseline, with the exception of his Charizard who was subbing in, replacing his Torterra. Charizard had wanted to try a hand at mentoring Ash's Chimchar. Thanks to that, Chimchar had already evolved into a fully fledged Infernape.

They were almost there when suddenly, Pikachu was a dozen feet away, reeling with pain.

_'What the hell just happened?'_ He thought, before looking over to where Ash had been. The color drained from his face. A tall, very buff blond man was standing there in Cyrus' Team Galactic uniform. His hands were around Ash's throat, and Ash was being drained away. Pikachu saw red. He immediately lunged at the man, trying to save Ash. But the man merely pivoted, placing Ash in the path of Pikachu's attack. Pikachu halted his momentum instantly, but in the process, he was left open. The man wasted no time in exploiting it. He fired some sort of projectiles from his pupils, bisecting Pikachu. He then dropped Ash's body to the ground.

"Now that these nuisances are out of the way I, Dio, shall remake this world in my own image." Said the man, Dio Brando, before walking away to enact the plan.

Once he was gone, Pikachu opened his eyes, and mentally thanked Arceus for that Special loop where he was Koga's Arbok. After reattaching the two parts of his body, he crawled over to Ash's...Ash, and reached for the Pokeballs on his belt. He needed a few moments to use Recover before he could rejoin the fight, and that was time they didn't have. He found Charizard's Pokeball without any difficulty, and hit the button. Charizard appeared in a beam of red energy, and took one look at Ash before letting out a roar strong enough to shake the mountain. Pikachu knew Charizard was in no condition to listen to any plans, and so he pointed the flaming dragon in Dio's direction. Charizard took off with a Flare Blitz so strong that the rock walls melted as he went through them. Then, Pikachu began to reach for another ball.

* * *

"There, that takes care of the rabble" Dio said to himself as The World finished off the last of Team Galactic's commanders. Team Galactic had been useful for his plan to kill this world's loopers, but now that it had been taken care of, he no longer needed them.

Then he heard a loud roar coming from the chamber where he'd left the trainer's remains. A second later, a Charizard enveloped in blue fire burst in. However, Dio was prepared, and he fired a shot of his Space Ripper Stingy Eyes at the flaming dragon. Unfortunately, his projectile eye fluid instantly evaporated from the heat of the Flare Blitz. As such, The World had to intervene, using its time stop to block Charizard's path football style.

Dio grunted as burns appeared on him, in the same places where his Stand touched Charizard's fire. "It's intense enough to burn my Stand?" Dio said to himself as Charizard tried to push The World back, succeeding in pushing it a few inches at least. Dio growled, and stopped time once more. This time, Dio himself moved, and went over to Charizard left tail. Using his vampiric freezing ability, Dio then snuffed out the flames there. Including Charizard's tail flame.

As time resumed, Dio let out a hearty evil laugh as Charizard slumped to the ground, dead.

"In the end, your rage is just useless, useless, useless!"

* * *

Hiding near the entrance of the cave, Pikachu grit his teeth as he saw Charizard die. _'That bastard...I'm gonna kill him,'_ Pikachu thought. At least Charizard had managed to buy him time to use recover, and recognize their opponent. Dio Brando. Pikachu knew of him, having read a few issues of Jojo during a Hub Loop. That had factored into his plan. Fortunately, he was able to see Dio's Stand with Aura Sight, which would help.

Pikachu hardened his tail into steel (Iron Tail) and rushed out at Dio with a Quick Attack. As he did so, the area around him became shadowed. Pikachu canceled his Quick Attack into a handstand (pawstand?) and swung his Iron Tail upwards, bisecting a steamroller Dio had tried to drop on him with his Stand, no doubt from his subspace pocket. Pikachu had anticipated that, and used a special electromagnetic trick he picked up in a Zatch Bell loop to propel the steamroller towards Dio. Unfazed, Dio countered with his Space Ripper Stingy Eyes, slicing through both pieces of Steam Roller at Pikachu. Fortunately, they were deflected by a hasty Counter Shield.

Suddenly, he was badly injured and being held against the ground by The World. Pikachu hated Time Stops.

"You useless rodent. Did you really think a stupid creature like yourself could defeat the immaculate DIO!" shouted the vampire. Pikachu looked him square in the eyes and smirked, before using Thunder Wave on The World. Dio recoiled as he felt himself be paralyzed just as his Stand was. Then part two of the plan kicked it.

Having snuck ahead and stolen the Red Chain, Infernape swung it at The World, the chain wrapping about its neck. Then he pulled, and Dio felt terrible pain in his very being.

"Dio Brando..." Pikachu began as The World released its grip on him. "You don't deserve this kind of power, so we're taking it away!"

"NEVER!" Dio Shouted, as he tried to pull his Stand back towards him. There was a mighty tug of war, before the Red Chain began to flash and a bright light filled the room, along with the screams of both Infernape and Dio. Finally, when both subsided, Pikachu opened his eyes. The World was gone, and Dio slumped over, dead. Pikachu then looked over to Infernape. He was only unconscious, and being cradled by a Stand

Infernape's Stand was a head taller than The World had been, and just as buff. Its skin was smooth and white of the same shade that was on Infernape's chest. Its upper thighs and arms seemed to be made of smoothed out fire stone, and its head sported a long mane of flames that acted as it's hair. It's face was made of carved Fire Stone, and had two flames as pupils. In the center of it's chest was another piece of smooth Fire Stone, and inside that, The World writhed in flames.

* * *

4.1 - ...I couldn't come up with anything better that day.

4.2 - The Quest to Get N Looping: Part 2 - The Meeting of Five Anchors! The Stranger with Green Hair Appears! He's the one I mentioned last time.

4.3 - In which Pikachu laughs at N's unfortunate name.

4.4 - Same as the MLP Loopers don't talk about TCB Loops, the Pokemon ones don't talk about Poke War Loops. I _hate_ the idea of these stories, as it implies that humanity can't co-exist now with creatures that they've been living with since the dawn of our race. I also don't appreciate how it ruins the innocence and charm behind even more of my childhood.

4.5 - Remember the Grammarmon Loop? Somebody pointed out the pun I accidentally made with Pikachu's Loop Name, so we had to include it somehow. Cue this Loop.

4.6 - Looks like Team Rocket has gone to the beginning again!

4.7 - I'm...not exactly sure what this is supposed to be. I suppose it's a blending of the Anime's story with the Games' physics, but it doesn't make much sense to me regardless.

4.8 - Charizard's First Loop: Part 3. As a general warning, none of Ash's Pokemon take too well to him being hurt in any way.

4.9 - Yellow's First Loop.

4.10 - How Pikachu learned to speak in the first place.

4.11 - KakAshi - Part 2: Pikachu used Snark. It's not very effective… Next time, Kakashi might actually get a second Pokémon! And they've accidentally decided to troll their way through Kanto. (Tagline by Khelder)

4.12 - That's where Meowth ended up when Jessie became the Punisher and James became Batman.

4.13 - Gary and his Blastoise's first fused Loop. Blastoise is based on his counterpart from Saphroneth's Ashes of the Past. And yes, Gurren Lagann airs in the Pokemon world too.

4.14 - Dio Brando...the Bigger Bad of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. And unfortunately, due to his connection with the protagonists, he's Looping. As a result of this encounter, Pikachu is now his number one non-Joestar rival. Also, Infernape's Stand is called Burning Down The House. In addition to pyrokinesis, it can also melt and reforge one Stand and let Infernape use its powers as well. Since he obtained the stand from the Red Chain pulling at The World, it is currently The World: Burning Down The House. As a side note, he can only do this to one Stand at a time, to mitigate OPness. This also has activated Infernape as a Looper.


	5. Chapter 5

Quick Note: Infernape's Stand was renamed to Fight Fire with Fire. Because Burning Down the House is a Canon JoJo Stand. It's from Part V, but it's Canon.

* * *

5.1

"Pikachu?"

"Yeah, Ash?"

"Why am I a fire-less Rapidash?"

"...No clue."

Ash looked around the strange forest they were in. He and Pikachu had been through a lot of time resets, but this was the first time they'd ever been somewhere like this. "I wonder where we are?" he wondered as he went to move closer to Pikachu. Instead, he ended up tripping over his hooves, not being used to an equinoid body.

Pikachu facepawed. "How about you just stay here and get used to four legs while I go figure out where we are, alright?" he asked. At Ash's agreement, he scampered off through the forest. As he exited, he saw what appeared to be a cottage of some kind on the outskirts of the forest. As he ducked down to get closer, he froze when a voice chimed in from behind him.

"Oh my. I've never seen anything quite like you before." As Pikachu turned around, he saw what looked to him like a pastel-yellow colored Ponyta with a pink mane that also wasn't fiery. The one thing that threw him off were the pair of wings on it.

"{I've never seen a Ponyta like this before...}" he muttered to himself in Pokespeak. He was shocked to find that the pastel not-Ponyta that spoke human tongue could understand Pokespeak when she said...

"What's a Ponyta? Is that what you call Ponies? Well...to be more accurate, I'm a Pegasus, although I don't really like flying," she, and it was definitely a she, said. "I'm Fluttershy; what's your name?" she asked.

"...Pikachu," the electric mouse Pokemon said after a moment's pause. Unfortunately, since Pokespeak, for most Pokemon anyway, consists of a Pokemon speaking its name in different tones and stresses, it took him a while to make it clear to Fluttershy that he meant that his name was Pikachu._ 'One of these days, we need to figure out something so we're not confused,'_ he thought to himself.

Anyway, just as he was about to say something else, a lavender not-Rapidash came onto the scene. "Hello, Fluttershy," she greeted. "Who's this?" she asked as she turned to him. Strangely, her eyes widened for a second before she looked as though it had never happened.

"Oh, Twilight," Fluttershy greeted. "I was just saying hello to my new friend. He says his name is Pikachu," she said.

Twilight had a pensive look for a second before saying, "Hey, Fluttershy? Do you mind if I talk to Pikachu here for a bit? I've been working on an Animal Translation Spell and I think I've gotten out all the bugs," she asked.

Fluttershy nodded. "Okay. I'll be inside if you need me; it's time to feed Angel Bunny," she added as she walked to her cottage and shut the door (softly) behind her.

Twilight then turned to Pikachu. "I guess Fluttershy isn't Awake if she didn't notice considering our visit there, but what's a Pikachu doing in Ponyville?" she couldn't help but wonder.

"That's what I'd like to know," interjected Pikachu, much to Twilight's shock. "Where am I? First time keeps resetting and not even Celebi or Dialga or even Arceus knows why, and now I'm in a place with pastel colored not-Ponytas and not-Rapidashes? What's going on?!" he wondered in frustration. He was getting fed up with trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

"A talking Pikachu?" Twilight wondered before the rest of what he said registered. "Wait; time has been resetting for you? You're a Looper?!" she asked in shock.

"Looper? What's that?" Pikachu asked in confusion.

"Okay...imagine that every single world out there were branches on a tree, and that tree is the multiverse," Twilight explained. "Now, imagine that something happened that almost broke the tree..."

Pikachu winced. "That sounds bad," he commented. "So if the tree that is the multiverse is broken, what's going on to fix it?" he asked.

"The Time Loops," Twilight bluntly said. "Looping stabilizes the Branches of the tree while repairs are made. But it's going to be several eternities before the tree is stabilized enough to even think about ending the Loops. The Admins, the quasi-divine upper-dimensional entities in charge of the universe, are working very hard just to keep things from getting worse."

Pikachu whistled. "Sounds daunting..." he commented before a scream from the Forest cut him off. Pikachu paled beneath his fur. "Oh crap! I left Ash in there alone while I went to scope the place out!" he yelled in horror. He quickly dashed off in a Quick Attack, cutting off what Twilight was going to say.

* * *

Ash tripped over his hooves as he tried to run away. He had no clue what was chasing him; it looked like someone had taken a Pyroar and fused it with a Bug-type of some kind. As he fell, the manticore, for that was what it was, got ever closer, causing him to scream for help.

Just as the manticore was about to do...something...a yellow blur came out of nowhere. It was Pikachu, who had channeled the speed of his Quick Attack into a Double Edge, knocking the manticore back a good few feet. "Ash! You alright?" Pikachu asked.

"P-Pikachu! ...Yeah, I'm fine," Ash said shakily. Pikachu then turned his attention to the manticore.

"Alright! Listen up, whatever you are! You've just made the biggest mistake of your life if you think you can go after Ash like that!" Pikachu declared. _'Wait...that sounded more like something Squirtle would say...oh well,'_

The manticore growled before launching itself at Pikachu. Pikachu dodged, and immediately used Iron Tail to whack it in the stomach. But the manticore didn't give up, and let out a loud roar, that caused shockwaves in the air, knocking Pikachu backwards. The manticore then swooped in and attempted to stab Pikachu with its scorpion tail, but Pikachu performed a mid-air dodge and used Thunder Wave to paralyze the manticore. Just as he was about to launch into a Volt Tackle though...

"STTOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPP!" was heard as Fluttershy ran up. However, much to Pikachu's chagrin, she immediately turned on him. "You should be ashamed of yourself! Attacking Mr. Fluffykins like that out of nowhere...!"

Pikachu immediately started gibbering. "{But...But...Ash...in danger...weird thing...attacking...!}"

Ash then chimed in. "Um...it's alright, miss. Pikachu was just trying to protect me," he pointed out. Fluttershy deflated.

"Oh...well, the least you could do is apologize...I mean, if that's okay with you," she said.

Pikachu rolled his eyes, but he acquiesced when Ash gave him a look. "{Um...sorry, Mr. Fluffykins,}" he awkwardly said. The manticore growled before flying off deeper into the Everfree.

It was then that Twilight ran up. "I heard a scream; is everypony alright?" she asked, trying to deflect the Unawake Fluttershy from prying too far into this.

Ash then spoke up. "Um, we're fine, Miss..?"

Twilight realized then that they had never gotten her name. "Twilight Sparkle. I gotta say, I hope it didn't get too loopy for you guys this time," she not-so-subtly said.

Ash widened his eyes before nodding. "Ash Ketchum. Pikachu's my best friend," he said as Pikachu leaped up onto his back, since trying to do so on his shoulder would be problematic.

"Well then, Ash, Pikachu. Do you mind coming following me over to the town library? There are a couple of things I have to talk to you about," Twilight said. At the duo's agreement, they said goodbye to Fluttershy and walked with Twilight to the library.

* * *

5.2

"...And here's the host of Jeopardy! Alex Trebek!"

"Thank you, Johnny. And I must say, ladies and gentlemen, that this is one of the strangest rounds of Jeopardy! I've ever hosted," commented the aforementioned Trebek. "I mean, we have here a unicorn, a Pokemon, and a lawyer competing today. Not exactly your usual crowd. Oh, no offense meant," he apologized.

"Don't worry about it, Alex," Twilight Sparkle said amiably.

"I'll be honest; I didn't expect this either," Phoenix Wright admitted.

_"...Why am I even here?"_ Mewtwo wondered. _"I don't even know what this show is!"_ he complained.

"...Actually, neither do I," Twilight admitted.

"Seriously?" Phoenix asked in disbelief. "You of all people don't know what Jeopardy! is?"

Twilight blushed. "I may have been a bit distracted last time I was here..." she admitted.

"Okay then, guess it's up to me to explain," Phoenix mumbled before launching into an explanation. "Jeopardy! is a Quiz show where we compete for a cash prize. There are 6 categories with 5 questions each, with each question in a category getting progressively harder as you go along. One of the questions is a Daily Double, where you can bet up to all of your current score to try to answer one super hard question."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Alex said, causing Phoenix to remember that he was there.

"Oh...sorry about that, Alex," he apologized. But he just waved the apology off.

"Don't worry about it. Now, these are the categories in today's round," he said, waving to the board. The categories lit up on the board. They were the following: **Magic is Friendship**,** Objection!**, **I choose you!**, **Move Tutoring**, **History of Law**, **Genetics**.

_"...Those seem oddly tailor-made for this group,"_ Mewtwo pointed out.

"They were the idea of this game's sponsor," Alex replied.

"Who's that?" Twilight wondered, just as a platform came down from the ceiling, revealing a familiar pig-tailed martial artist.

"RANMA?!" both of the other two present Anchors cried out in shock. Mewtwo was just confused; Pikachu had neglected to tell him about the O7.

The Original Anchor grinned in response. "Thought I'd make things more interesting," he said. "Don't mind me; just get on with the show!" he added as his platform retracted into the roof.

"Alright, so which of you will start first? ...How about you, Mewtwo?" Mr. Trebek asked.

Mewtwo started before looking at the board. _"Um...**Move Tutoring** for $200?"_ he hesitantly asked.

"Alright, now here's the question:..."

* * *

5.3

"Hey, Mewtwo?" Ash asked. "I always thought you were the only Mewtwo, so where did the female one I met in Unova come from?"

_"...We don't talk about her,"_

"But...?"

_"I said, we _don't_ talk about her,"_

* * *

5.4 (zeusdemigod131)

_"Cold."_

The word rung in the mind of a Pokémon in a lab deep in a jungle of Kanto. But what was really confusing, was what happened after that.

_"...Where, where am I?"_

In all honesty, the Pokémon shouldn't have been able to form a sentence like that, or show confusion; he hadn't learned Confusion yet.

Mewtwo opened his mind and surveyed the area with his psychic powers. What he sensed filled him with pure, unbridled rage.

Giovanni's helicopter landed on the secluded island, the leader of Team Rocket exited and walked towards the lab. A sinister grin on his face.

As Giovanni entered the lab, several scientists scurried out of the way. To no one in particular, Giovanni asked. "How is-?"

The tank at the center of the room exploded, sending shards of glass everywhere.

The Pokémon within the tank floated from the hole in the ground where his former prison had been, his psychic powers lifting him off the ground.

_"You,"_ He snarled.

Giovanni took a step back, then felt something stab at his mind, he and everyone else in the room crumpled to the ground, most unconscious, most, but not Giovanni.

For one of the first times in his life, Giovanni felt nervous, but he tried anyway. "Greeti-"

_"SILENCE!"_ The psychic shout left Giovanni grasping his ears, which did nothing to dampen the pain, or ringing in his brain.

Mewtwo floated over to Giovanni and lifted the man's chin, forcing him to look at the Genetic Pokémon.

_"I don't know what you did, Giovanni,"_

Giovanni's eyes widened as Mewtwo said his name, a name he had never been told.

_"But you are going to PAY!"_ Giovanni felt something tearing through his mind, and had he had control of any of his bodily functions, including his vocal cords, he would have screamed.

Mewtwo pulled all the information he could from Giovanni's mind, as he did, his confusion only grew, the boss of Team Rocket didn't know anything about what he had done, or... was going to do?

_"I'm going to fix this,"_ He snarled, dropping Giovanni. _"If it's the last thing I do."_

Giovanni lied lifelessly on the floor, he wasn't unconscious per say, nor was he dead, his mind was simply a messed up shamble of what was once a human brain, in scientific terms he was a vegetable, unscientifically, his mind was pudding.

Meanwhile, Mewtwo stood outside on the helicopter pad, the helicopter having been tossed into the ocean seconds earlier.

_"I will fix this,"_ He assured himself. _"No matter what!"_

* * *

Pikachu and Ash were in Viridian City, and they had a plan to take on the gym. It involved Charizard, two Mega Stones, a lot of planning, and a bet with Giovanni.

The plan was pretty normal when it came to dealing with Giovanni and Team Rocket early on, but everything changed once they stepped inside the gym.

"'Bout time you's guys showed up," Meowth said, lowering the battle platform that he, Jessie, and James were on. "We have a problem."

"What's up?" Pikachu asked.

"Giovanni's a vegetable."

Ash and Pikachu deadpanned. "I thought this Loop was going to be normal," Pikachu said. "What type of vegetable, out of curiosity?"

"The kind you have on life support," Jessie answered.

The pairs eyes went wide. "Ohhh... what happened to him?"

The trio looked glanced to each other, uncertainty in their eyes.

"What?" Ash groaned, expecting the worst.

"Giovanni was on a secret island that doesn't exist," Jessie began.

"Where scientists were doing experiments that weren't happening," James added.

"On a test subject who you've never met," Meowth finished.

Ash's eyes widened in realization. "Mewtwo?"

"You got it," Meowth answered. "Most of the scientists survived... actually everyone technically survived, but anyone who can still talk said he escaped and knocked everyone out, then when they woke up, Giovanni was lying in a pool of his own drool."

"Right," Pikachu stepped forward. "Options are that this is a Variant, or someone's replacing Mewtwo."

"Anyone else Awake?" James asked.

"I got Charizard," Ash threw the Fire-types Pokeball up and let Charizard out.

Charizard stretched and eyed Team Rocket quizzically. "What's wrong?"

"Some kind of violent Mewtwo on the loose," Pikachu summed up. "Misty, Brock, May, Mrs. Ketchum and Professor Oak are Awake too; so's Togepi and Blaziken."

Jessie nodded. "Alright, well if he knows what Giovanni knows, which we're assuming because he probably stole his memories, then he's probably going to take out a few crucial facilities."

"Anything jump out?" Charizard asked.

"A few research facilities around Kanto and Johto, and a couple of outposts in Hoenn," James answered.

"One of them keeps tabs on Magma and Aqua," Meowth added.

"Seems like a good place to start," Pikachu said. "Charizard, head to Hoenn, get May and Blaziken, we'll check around Kanto and Johto. Meowth, Jessie, James, can you guys get to Sinnoh? I wanna make sure this guy doesn't try anything with Arceus, if he tries to control him or the Creation Trio there might be problems."

"Right!" Charizard took off and flew through the door, actually breaking it as he went. Jessie and the others headed towards the back of the gym.

Ash and Pikachu sighed and headed through the shattered doorway, both wondering just what this Loop had in store.

* * *

May and Blaziken walked down a seemingly abandoned road, looking for any sign of civilization, or whatever you called the likes of Team Rocket. "Charizard said it was around here somewhere," May said.

Blaziken raised an eyebrow at something over the horizon. "{Well, I see smoke over there.}"

May looked in the direction Blaziken had indicated. "Crud."

Once the pair made it to the smoldering remains of Team Rocket's outpost, they expected to find unconscious survivors. Instead, they were greeted by an explosion.

"{I think he's over there,}" Blaziken stated before running off.

"Yah think?" May asked, chasing after her Pokèmon.

Once May caught up with Blaziken she saw that he was facing the Pokèmon they had been looking for. "Mewtwo," May whispered.

The Psychic-type turned his head towards May and Blaziken. _"Who are you?"_ He asked, his voice dripping with anger.

"I'm May and who are you?" May wondered what world this guy was from, he seemed to have a real vendetta against Team Rocket for some reason.

_"I am Mewtwo!"_ He answered, the color drained from May's face.

Blaziken turned to his trainer, eyes wide. "{He's Looping?!}" The Fire-type shouted more than asked.

May gulped nervously. "I'm gonna get Ash on the holocaster, we're gonna need him and Pikachu." May had never met Mewtwo during the baseline, so he wouldn't know her, but Ash and Pikachu had.

Blaziken nodded. "{I'll keep him here,}" As Blaziken made his way towards the Legendary, hoping he'd be willing to talk, May pulled her holocaster from her Subspace Pocket.

"Ash... Pikachu... come on, pick up." After a moment Pikachu's image crackled to life above the device.

"Hey, May, what's-"

"{Maaay, he's not listening... Shadow Claw!}"

"Happening? ...He's there isn't he?"

"Oh yeah, and he is pissed... oh and it's just Mewtwo, he's Looping."

Pikachu's eyes widened. "Sweet Arceus! Alright, hang on, we'll be there soon," The Anchor hung up just as Blaziken flew past May, ramming through a wall and ending up buried in a pile of rubble.

May turned to see that Mewtwo was now glarng down at her. _"You would dare try to stop me?"_ He asked. _"Do you know who I am?!"_

May took a few steps back, then she felt something trying to pierce her mind. "{Stay away from her!}" A blue light exploded from the pile of rubble, coming to a stop between May and Mewtwo. Blaziken, now in his Mega form, took a fighting stance. "{Come and get me.}"

_"Rraaahhh!"_ Mewtwo screamed and launched forward, knocking Blaziken backwards again.

"{Flamethrower!}" May ducked as a torrent of flame shot from, Blaziken's mouth, blowing Mewtwo back.

_"Psychic!"_ Blaziken held his head as Mewtwo assaulted his mind.

"{Focus Energy.}" Blaziken said under the strain. "{Flare Blitz!}" Blaziken jumped forward and slammed into Mewtwo with all his power, knocking the legendary into the ground.

_"Insolent fool!"_ Mewtwo screamed. _"You will pa-"_

That was when Ash, Pikachu, Misty and Togepi appeared in front of Mewtwo, the Egg Pokèmon giggling while the other three groaned on the ground. "Did we have to use Togepi?" Misty gripped.

"Hey, I may be part Psychic-type, but she replaced Arceus."

_"Pikachu?"_ Mewtwo asked in disbelief. _"A... Ash?"_

.

"Hey Mewtwo," Pikachu said. "I think we need to have a talk."

* * *

_"What you're saying is impossible, and yet you're telling the truth,"_ Mewtwo shook his head. _"And your attitude towards all of this,"_ Mewtwo was currently on Professor Oak's lab, and Delia had made tea for everyone.

"Yeah, it takes some getting used to." Ash sighed. "But we'll help you in anyway we can."

"Also, are ya gonna turn Giovanni into a vegetable every time?" Meowth asked, earning him a glare from the other Loopers.

Then there was a shattering sound, everyone turned to Mewtwo and saw that he had broken his cup. _"That man deserves what he got."_

Pikachu pursed his lips, they definitely had to be gentle with this one, Mewtwo was... difficult, to say the least, Ash captured him a few times before, usually when they had a plan for some huge battle later on, and dealing with him was always a headache, that being said, he wasn't a bad guy, he just had a bad past.

"Look Mewtwo, I agree, Giovanni's a terrible man, and did he deserve that? Probably. But you can't just go around lobotomizing people, it's... wrong, not entirely wrong when it's Giovanni but still."

_"I will bring an end to Team Rocket, and then-"_

"And then what?" Pikachu asked. "Once this Loop ends Team Rocket, and Giovanni, will be back to normal, no brain dead boss, no blown up facilities, the only ones who'll even remember are Jessie, James, and Meowth."

Mewtwo was shocked, this little Pikachu spoke to him with such gawl, of course, if everything he said was true then this little Pikachu was far more powerful than him.

_"Well what do you suggest I do every time I... Awaken, let Giovanni go?"_

"No, do what you need to, if it helps you deal with the stress then we're not gonna stop you, but you're going to have to learn to control your temper." Pikachu knew that Mewtwo was quick to anger and slow to trust, the former could cause some serious problems if they couldn't get it under control.

_"I can control myself just fine."_

"You really think so?" Ash asked. "I know you let Giovanni go the first time, but that was more because Mew convinced you to show mercy, it's not that you lack control, and it's not that you're overly cruel, it's that you have some anger issues."

Mewtwo grimaced but didn't argue. _"Well what do you suggest I do?"_

"Well we all have our own ways of dealing with stress, do you have any hobbies or interests that you never really got a chance to work on?"

_"I was secluded in the mountains for a large percentage of my life, I no longer find joy in battle, and I spent much of my time contemplating existence, either my own or in general, I did enjoy it when Mew came to visit me though."_

Pikachu sighed. "Alright, Ash, Meowth, get over here." The other Loopers walked over to their Anchor, who pulled them into a huddle. "Ash get the others, we're going to try and find something that Mewtwo's interested in."

"And if we can't?" Ash asked.

"I'll... I'll think of something, but in the mean time, Meowth, keep him occupied."

"What?!"

"Come on, you're both cats, sort of... just talk with him, answer his questions, just don't let him leave!"

Meowth sighed. "Fine," Ash and Pikachu raced out of the room, hoping the others were all still at Ash's house. "Just don't take too long." he turned back to Mewtwo, who was psychically putting his cup back together, actually refusing the glass. "Please."

* * *

5.5 (SeasideCharizard)

"Hey, Pikachu! I've got an idea!" Oshawott chirped, running up to Pikachu, who had just come away from the Beartic Slide.

Pikachu was not at all surprised. "You have an idea every Loop. What's it this time?"

"Well, I came out of a RéBURST Loop recently."

Pikachu frowned. "...So you want us to do a Burst Loop? That sounds a bit weird."

"Oh, not at all," Oshawott denied, though the smile on his face that was already there started to grow wider. "But I would like you to… say, get a Burst Heart. Of a Legendary. Any Legendary."

"Didn't you just say we wouldn't be doing—"

Oshawott cut Pikachu off. "Pikachu, just because we're not using them directly, doesn't mean we're not using them. I'll just say I have a 'plan'. It might take a very long time, but I have a plan."

Pikachu squinted her eyes. "A plan for what?"

"For beating Yggdrasil, that's what," Oshawott cryptically replied.

He followed up by bringing a human world laptop out of his Subspace Pocket, which apparently had a ridiculous amount of assorted 'stuff' on it.

He opened it, and showed Pikachu a large list of… fanfiction.

"This is what makes up about a quarter of the Loops of Team Poképals, and a few of Team Go-Getters's. By my predictions, considering the fact that our Loop is in desperate need of some sort of religion and Post Town just happens to be terribly lucky, we have about three hundred Loops before we get hit with the full force of the Bitterfaygo Train. Three hundred Loops until Neon Genesis Mystery Dungeon comes to reap our souls. Three hundred Loops until Puella Magi Pikachu Magica slams German festivals in our jam. Three hundred Loops until—"

"Okay!" Pikachu interrupted. "You have a plan to counter every dark and edgy Loop that will ever get thrown at us. Right. So what's the plan?"

"Not ruining the surprise," Oshawott unhelpfully responded. "Just find yourself a Burst Heart of some Legendary at some point. I think you already have a general idea of what I'm trying to do, but I'm tinkering just a bit with the situation. I'll be asking Emolga and anyone else who starts Looping to do the same."

Pikachu considered what Oshawott said, and proceeded to frown even more. "Oshawott, this sounds more like a plan for fighting the power."

"...Who said it wasn't?"

"It's a plan to fight the power, isn't it."

Oshawott crossed his stubby arms. "Come on, there's a difference between fighting the power and a coup d'etat run on a lot of carefully planned and precise Peggy Sue Xanatos Gambits."

"So, the plan for when we enter a Loop we don't like, is to unleash Looper wrath and mess with the premise of the Loop to the point where it actually becomes enjoyable to see where it goes?"

Oshawott nodded. "Exactly. But I'm still not telling you how."

"That's fine," Pikachu allowed. "It'll be interesting to use when my patented 'Do you really care for your friends' speech fails to stop a war... or when the Loop is just dumb."

"Great. Since Emolga's Awake this Loop, I'll go tell him too."

At that, Pikachu sighed, unexpectedly. "I just hope someone else starts Looping soon. Having a number less than four is starting to make me feel weird!"

"...It has been a while," Oshawott recalled. "In that case, I guess we should stay on the lookout... but, anyway. You were doing that thing with the Magnagates, right? So go find a related Legendary, figure out how Burst Hearts work, you know."

"Just to make sure, this is a serious plan, right?"

"This isn't a serious plan, Pikachu. This is The Plan. Get more popcorn, settle in your seat, and prepare your Japanese anti-piracy ads, because the film's about to start."

Pikachu took a moment to stare at Oshawott, dumbfounded. "What?"

Oshawott himself was silent for a bit.

"...Even I don't know what I just said. Wow."

* * *

5.6 (jxz)

Ash sighed. He just had to die and become a Yamask this Loop, didn't he?

Well, at least he died in a non-violent way. That meant he could still possess his body.

The main problem wasn't that he couldn't grow; he had already accepted that in his seventh or eight Loop.

No, the problem was that he was still dead, and thus, his body was... decomposing.

"Really, Ash, you should have thought more about letting seventy three Jinx kiss you," Pikachu said.

"Come on! How could I have known that they were all Poison-types this Loop?!" Ash shouted, as he used another Ice-Type attack on his own body in order to keep it as non-undead as possible.

"You have your Pokedex," Misty said.

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Ash sighed, as he re-entered his body. "At this rate, I'll have to use the 'Mr. Freeze' Method."

"You mean bad jokes about ice?"

"I said Mr. Freeze, not Schwarzenegger."

* * *

5.7 (The Imaginatrix)

His mind was struggling to come to grips with several sets of conflicting memories. He remembered being captured by Paul, mistreated and abandoned, being taken in by Ash, and being trained with seemingly endless patience and encouragement until he evolved into Infernape and finally mastered his problematic ability. Then he remembered being captured by Paul as a Chimchar again, being mistreated and abandoned, and taken in by Ash and befriended by his Charizard, who had become like an older brother in the short time they had known one another. He had not remembered his first—had it been first? He was still not sure—journey with ash, but he had still become close enough to the trainer to be stricken when he was killed, and when the boy's murderer had also killed Charizard, he had tapped into a well of power he had never known before, and triumphed where the dragon had failed. In the time after that, he remembered having both terrifying nightmares and victorious dreams as a result of that event.

And now … now he had just been captured by Paul, and he was once more a Chimchar. Had he dreamed those events? Was he going crazy? Or was time repeating? He had no idea what in the Distortion World was happening, and it frightened him.

For the third time, at least to him, he was released into Professor Rowan's backyard. Across from him, Aipom stood poised for battle, and behind her was Ash, alive and well, with Pikachu on his shoulder.

Between the firm friendship he remembered from the happier set of memories, and the traumatic nature of the darker one, Chimchar was overcome by an impulse he had no desire to resist. Forgetting entirely that he was supposed to do battle with the other monkey in front of him, he ran across the field and threw himself at Ash, tackling him to the ground and sending Pikachu tumbling across the grass. The mouse picked himself up and looked over at the Fire Type, who had flung his arms around Ash's neck and was babbling semi-coherently between sobs.

"{Ash—you're here—but you were—but you're okay and—please don't die!}"

Pikachu's ears shot up, and his eyes widened. The only other person staring harder at the spectacle was Paul.

"What's wrong with you?" the purple-haired trainer snapped. "This is a battle! Come back over here!"

Chimchar did not seem to hear him. With a snarl of frustration, Paul prepared to return his Pokémon to it's ball. Before he could complete the action, however, he was sent sprawling by a blow to the midriff, and the Pokéball flew out of his hand, landing several feet away. He lay there, gasping for breath; the blow had knocked the wind out of him, but didn't seem to have caused any lasting harm. A bright flash nearby caught his attention, and he sat up and turned his head in time to see the Pokéball break, the two halves twisted and giving off sparks. His gaze landed on the Pikachu, which was already returning to its trainer's side, resting a paw on his chimchar's back as if to comfort it. He got to his feet, scowling at the scene before him.

"Forget this," he said in contempt. "I'm not wasting another ball or any of my time on a crybaby who won't fight when I expect it to. You can keep it."

And he turned on his heel and stalked away, leaving a bemused and Unawake Dawn staring after him.

"What just happened?" she asked an equally Unawake Brock.

The gym-leader shrugged.

"No idea."

* * *

Ash was glad he had been Awake for this. After Paul had walked out on the battle, he and Pikachu had taken Chimchar aside, to the further consternation of their unawake friends. After the little Fire Type had calmed down enough to answer a few questions, it had become clear to both of them that he was Awake, and Pikachu had introduced him to the time loops and their various peculiarities.

"{Basically, the Loop you remembered was a Variant known as a Fused Loop,}" the Anchor explained. "{Dio Brando came from another universe, and we shouldn't be seeing him again for a while.}"

"{But we will see him again?}" Chimchar asked.

"{I won't deny it's possible. The Loops might send us to his world next time, or we could end up in a completely different setting.}" Pikachu's cheeks sparked. "{One thing's for sure. If I ever see that creep again, I'll make him pay for what he did to Ash, and I know the others will help if they're there and Awake.}"

"{If that ever happens, you can count me in,}" Chimchar vowed fiercely.

"I hope I can see that," Ash said, speaking for the first time. "Pikachu told me about your stand. It sounded awesome."

Chimchar smiled hesitantly.

"{Yeah, it was.}"

Pikachu frowned thoughtfully, and then turned to Ash.

"{I think we should contact Liza and get Charizard over here again,}" he said. "{He'll want to know about this and maybe having him here will help in … other ways.}"

Ash made a point of asking Pikachu exactly what he meant by that later, then nodded.

"I'll call her tomorrow."

* * *

Pikachu could not help smirking along with Infernape. His plan had worked out even better than he had hoped. It turned out that Infernape could still use his stand, though he had needed the support of Ash, Charizard and the Anchor to make any progress with it, and he hadn't even been able to use it consciously until he was fully-evolved. It had been well worth it in the end, however.

Paul stared down at the unconscious form of his last Pokémon, then up at the proud victor, who had decimated his entire team without taking a single hit.

"Bet you're sorry you released me now, huh?" Infernape said in perfect English. He had gained the ability thanks to his stand, but had kept it under wraps until this moment.

The look on Paul's face was priceless.

* * *

5.8 (SeasideCharizard)

Red had Awoken in a completely unfamiliar world.

This would occur every once in a while, perhaps because he was in some ROM hack, or in a Fused Loop, or some other oddity.

As Red still carried Poké Balls, as far as he could tell, he was certainly still a Pokémon Trainer, so he could assume that he was still in some Pokémon world, which is always a nice touch for his adventurous self. With that thought, he waited for his Loop memories to catch up to him.

When they did, he didn't particularly like what was going on.

As it turned out, there was some kind of Moemon Loop currently running. "Some kind" meaning that Red actually didn't quite understand what was going on here. Certainly, all of the Pokémon had been replaced by, well, little girls.

But, firstly, all of said little girls were very literally little, and were now sentient magical puppets of moderate intellect with the ability to reproduce amongst themselves. Secondly, these puppets didn't seem to be Pokémon at all. Thirdly, every Poké Ball in existence was now based on the Yin-Yang symbol. Finally, like what happened in the second generation games, Red was that one Kanto Champion who disappeared to become the very best, like apparently he already was anyway.

The actual problem with this was that his team really was the very best, which wasn't supposed to happen right from the start of the Loop if none of his normal Pokémon were Looping with him. Aside from being Level 100, IV bred, and EV trained from the get-go, he had access to Pokémon (which were now named Boneka, for good measure) that didn't even normally exist in nature. Not even as Legendaries; these were special occurrences. Very, very special occurrences. As such, Red did indeed recall travelling across the land, and searching far and wide for them.

He also had eleven disciples with incredible teams in their own right, each of whom could scare Champions just by their very presence and had, like Red, dedicated themselves to the art of Pokém—Boneka battling. Anyone who wanted to challenge Red would have to go through all of them first.

But, incredibly enough, one of Red's most recent memories was a defeat at the hands of the young new Champion of whatever this region was. A complete and utter defeat. None of his chosen apostles of ultimate Boneka battling fared anywhere close to better.

Definitely a Looper.

As his Loop memories told him that he was a silent protagonist this time, he decided to just up and leave the horribly dank cave that he awaited challengers in without any explanation, to find out what in the world was really happening.

* * *

Red didn't have to travel far at all, as it turns out. It was as easy as checking out the most populated city. There she was—the newly crowned Boneka Champion of… Kanto? Red was fairly certain it was Kanto.

Helpfully, the Looper was quite friendly and willing to exposit a little. Red managed to learn that this was, indeed, a Fused Loop, with the very Champion being a Looper of the "Loop-like thing" was fusing with Red's own Loop.

What unnerved Red was the circumstances surrounding this particular variant, though.

"It's actually a bit hard for me to believe what you said. I'd thought you were a Stealth Looper this entire time!" the Champion, a cheery blonde girl in an oddly out-of-place purple dress and a very light pink mob cap, Maribel Hearn, commented as she and Red walked around something that looked very similar to Viridian City, but was apparently a different place.

"...What do you mean by 'this entire time'? Has this happened before?" Red asked.

"Of course!" Maribel blurted out, before elaborating. "This is a decently common variant that I go into. Nine times out of ten, if we have a Fused Loop, which happens pretty often in my opinion, then this is the one. So I've been in here hundreds and hundreds of times."

There. That was the thing that was mystifying Red. This girl, from some kind of Loop, had been in here enough times to be completely familiar with the variant in just about every way, even though, according to her, the variant changed itself very often, and at random, to the point where it sometimes even completely threw out the setting.

In the meanwhile, the Anchor of the actual Loop, Red, was experiencing this for the first time.

It simply didn't make any sense.

"Maybe it's just one of the quirks of Yggdrasil?" Maribel guessed. "In general, if I get involved in something, it's not going to work quite like it should. Really, maybe there is an explanation, or there isn't. Anyway, I have to admit, this one is surprising. Like I said, I thought you'd been Awake for at least some of those Loops. But then it turns out that you weren't Awake for a single one!"

"Not a single one, huh…" Red mumbled, himself curious as to what could have caused this glitch. Not that wondering was going to get him anywhere, so he turned his focus on another avenue. "What do you usually do for this Loop? Since it's a whole new world, I'm going to explore everywhere. Probably go on a whole new journey. But I'm guessing you have some plans, right?"

Maribel's merry expression fell a little, thinking about what it was that she usually did. The fact that she had to think about it at all gave her the answer. "...Mmh, not exactly. This Loop has unexplored opportunities everywhere, so even at this point, I haven't seen all there is to it. I will say that whenever Boneka Contests crop up, I always go for being a Coordinator."

"Is there something special about the contests? I never found them that interesting, unless I'm in Ash's… well, Pikachu's Loop. Those are pretty cool."

"Ooohohoho, you have no idea…" Maribel mumbled in an almost frighteningly excited tone for the quiet voice.

Red blinked, having to take a moment to get whatever he just heard. "What?"

"Think those kinds of Pokémon Contests you just mentioned," Maribel began, with an eerie excitement shining in her eyes. "But… with just a bit of, what's the word…. er, lunacy."

Again, Red didn't reply right away, but eventually, his eyes widened and his face turned to just a slight, yet sharp frown.

"Wait a minute. Don't tell me this is that Loop—"

"This is that Loop, yes," Maribel cut off, not bothering to check what Red actually meant. Mainly because she'd given this response before. "And before you ask me more, I don't exist, this variant doesn't exist, and the physical space you're occupying right now doesn't exist, so if you stop trusting what you see, you'll at least know why. We give a new definition to 'bizarre adventure'."

"...R-Really. Well, in that case, I'll just be going, then. On that journey," Red stuttered, quickly walking away while waving and nervously chuckling. "See you later, if, uh, you ever actually find me!"

"Yes, yes, I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon!" Maribel replied cheerily, waving back, though Red didn't exactly like the choice of words. He swore that they were chosen on purpose.

Possibly insane Loop or not, as Red turned his head forward and walked off into a route that he didn't catch the name of, he figured he shouldn't let all of this get him down. Fresh start, new Pokémo—darn it, Boneka journey. Just go straight ahead.

Just ignore the suddenly very creepy girl still waving.

Nope, this was not going to be a good Loop.

On the other hand, Red had a team of practical gods, so he could go see what there was to this world at whim. And if the almost artistic natural surroundings were any indication, the journey was actually going to be fun. At least Red could take pictures. And if Loop memories served correctly, the battles were actually very much like what battles between Looping trainers would look like; mostly insane.

"Okay, fine," Red muttered to himself, "I'll give the Loop a chance…"

A decision that could be called into question, considering the nature of the Loop; though Red was not fully aware of it at the time.

Nothing is real past the looking-glass.

* * *

5.9 (jxz)

Dawn looked at Ash's weird backpack. It had two guns at each side, connected at the backpack by wires. Each gun had a sign on each side, one had a minus sign and the other had a plus sign. "What does that do?"

"Oh, this? Is my Mixi-Max Gun." Ash said.

"Mixi-what?" Dawn was confused.

"Is a thing I took from somewhere." He said. "It gives you the aura and some physical modifications of any Pokemon or human you shoot with the minus side. You wanna try?"

"I don't know... It sounds weird."

"But it's not." Brock said. He turned to Ash. "Can I show her?"

Ash smiled. Brock may not be Awake, but he could always trust him. "Sure, show her a Mixi-Max!"

"Alright!" Brock started glowing with yellow light, expelling a light that wouldn't look out of place in a DBZ Loop.

"Mixi-Max... Sudowoodo!" The light dissipated, and showed Brock again... a bit changed. His hair was now brown, and with a sprout-like tuft of hair in the center. His hands now had three green balls instead of his fingers. He looked at himself. "Wow, I had forgotten how weird is to have this things as fingers."

Seeing at Dawn's shocked face, Ash turned to Brock. "Hey, Brock! Why don't you show her the powers you gained?"

"Sure!" Brock said. He turned to a rock close to them, and ran to it. As he got close, his right arm began glowing with a white light.

"HAMMER ARM!" He shouted, as he punched the rock, which was pulverized.

Dawn looked in awe, as Brock returned to normal. "That was..."

"Awesome, would be the word you want."

Dawn only nodded. "If you and Piplup are true friends, this will work."

Dawn turned to Piplup.

* * *

"Prepare for Trouble!" An Unawake Jessie said.

"And Make it Double!" An Unawake James said.

"Well, Make THIS Double!" Dawn shouted, as she was wrapped in a yellow aura. When it disappeared, she had penguin-like wings, and a beak. "Mixi-Max, Piplup!"

The face on the Team Rocket would be one that Ash and Pikachu wouldn't forget, even more when Dawn used Whirlpool on the three thieves.

"This is as fun as when Jessie used Mixi-Max with Meowth," he said to himself.

* * *

5.10 (AbZHz101)

Red had been having an interesting time so far. The Loop was a mix of the novel and the familiar with a healthy dose of serendipity to top it off. Here, at the age of ten young children became Trainers and were given their very own creature to set off with on a journey throughout the region. Even the type system was the same, the major difference was that these creatures often were the size of a normal skyscraper when fully grown. In this variant, Kaiju replaced Pokémon. The serendipity was more the fact that so far there had been no major incidents of Kaiju trying to break a city. Red remembered his luck and gave it until just after he got his Seventh Badge.

As Red walked into the Local lab to receive his Starter Kaiju. Afterwards he stayed behind to speak with the resident Professor, Prof. Serizawa. "Is something the matter, Red?" the man asked. "Most children run outside as fast as they can to introduce themselves to their new friends."

"Oh, it's nothing major Professor," Red replied, acting like a ten-year old trying to downplay something they thought was really important. "It's just... I was thinking last night, how do we know if all the Kaiju that we know of are all the ones out there? Couldn't there be more?" he shuffled his feet slightly to sell the "Small child with a big dream called out by an adult" image.

"Ah," Prof. Serizawa replied. "Well if you're interested, I can show you these," he said walking to a nearby drawer and pulling out a rather thick manila envelope. He carefully removed the objects inside, which were collections of fuzzy photographs and yellowed hand-written reports. "These are reports and photos that my family has spent generations collecting. They are all focused on one Kaiju that we still don't know if it exists or not..._ Godzilla_." Smiling at the heirlooms, the professor flipped through the mess with long-practiced ease. "Here you can see charcoal copies of an ancient civilization's etching. At the center is what we believe is their savior and their destroyer, it's name... _Gojira_. Notice the body type, its spines, and the fire breath. Some have speculated that this is an ancient Gigan, others that it is an extinct Kaiju, and still other believe that it just plain didn't exist except in the minds of the ancient people. I don't know if its a Gigan or not but I don't believe that it has been wiped out. This isn't the only place where it appears, or the only form it takes... here is a description of their destroyer's molten chest and belly, how Hell itself has been bade manifest on the one which once protected them. And here, see how this carving is just slightly different than the original? The crystals on it's shoulders seemed to be a representation of Enlightenment, though it later on is a warning that knowledge and wisdom are not one and the same."

Then the professor moved to another section of the papers and quickly pulled on out. "This is a report made one hundred years ago, by a single soldier who survived the destruction of his entire platoon. He speaks of a Black Beast, who's unearthly wail tore at the hearts of men, of how it calmly passed through the enemy formation routing them without even looking, of the Blue Fire that erupted from its maw. His description is uncannily like that of the description of Gojira. His commanding officers, after reading his report, said that the had hallucinated from the distruction around him and sent him home, they sent a copy on and five days later marched through the same battlefield. They were never heard from again," the professor finished darkly.

"Ah, here we are!" Professor Serizawa said happily, pulling out a series of photographs. "This is the oldest story that we have from that ancient civilization. It begins by calling Godzilla a child of the Ocean and the Earth; but the Sky the one who was married to Earth cursed the union and the child it brought forth, turning it into a hideous Beast and demanded that Earth banish it forever from their joint domain. Sorrowfully, the Earth did as asked, throwing the child deep into its Mother, the Ocean. The next time we see the Child of Earth and Ocean, the creature is fully grown and powerful enough to wage war against the powers that banished him. Here, you can see Godzilla battling both Land and Sky as the people run in fear. This fierce battle would have been the end of all had Ocean not intervened. However, Ocean was a crafty mother, and did not battle on one side or the other. Instead, while all three slept off their wounds, she called to a young boy in his dreams to come to her at when the Moon was brightest. So the boy walked to the edge of the shore at midnight on a Full Moon.

"Ocean hid her child from his sight and told the boy to continue to walk along the shoreline. She told him that she had a very powerful message for him, but she could only tell it in a place where he had water on three sides and above his feet. At first the boy tried to walk directly into the water, but whenever his feet would touch the water, it pulled back. So the boy walked along the shore, looking for a place where this didn't happen. He had not gone five steps when he came to a vast wall. The boy would have despaired then and there had he not heard Ocean's voice whispering one word, "Climb." So the boy did. And when he came to the top of the wall there was a hill, and he heard Ocean say, "Come." He followed her voice until he was as far out as he could manage. Only then did he feel the water over his feet and see it surround him.

"It was there that Ocean told the boy of Godzilla's past, and more importantly how he could save all three: Earth, Sky, and Godzilla. Ocean told him a secret to calm and befriend her son, but that it would only work that very morning, for if Earth, Sky, and Godzilla continued to fight that day all three would die. The boy wailed for he could see the first glimmer of the Sun's rays. He had taken too long. So he wept, and asked the goddess how he might get to Godzilla in time. And the goddess replied with a strange little smile, "Look down." And with that she removed the enchantment that she had placed over the boy's eyes. The boy was on the sleeping Godzilla's head! And the beast was about to stir. Acting quickly the boy did as Ocean had told him and reminded the Beast of the heart that it once had. Thus did the Beast's rampage stop and it became their protector.

"Of course, as in any ancient epic, the Hero cannot be unopposed," Professor Serizawa continued, with a slightly bitter chuckle. He pulled out a photograph of an ancient painting, the focus was two figures fighting off in the distance while the people quailed in fear in the front. Red could recognize one of them from an earlier portrait as being Godzilla. "Here we see Godzilla making war with his nemesis. The Ancients had no name for this fell creature, and so called it simply DESROYAH." Then, the Professor pulled his head out of the legend for a moment and noted for Red that, "This character is pronounced 'ah' but would often be transcribed as 'er' in later editions."

"The Ancients don't have a conclusive narrative on where DESTROYAH comes from. Some say that Sky, still angry at Earth and Ocean, got her revenge by spending a night at the Fish King's Palace. Other's say that DESTROYAH was Godzilla's twin, and still others say that it simply came from beyond, for whatever that could mean. The two godlings battled for a hundred days, neither landing a blow. Then, DESTROYAH did, well something and Godzilla was dying. The boy, now an aged man, ran to his friend and pulled out a treasure that he had been given by Earth years before. It was only meant to be used in the gravest of circumstances. The Ancient Treasure revitalized and changed Godzilla, returning him to his original form. Godzilla then unleashed Sunfire on DESTROYAH and killed the fell beast. Then the treasure lost it's power and broke open."

"The clan took the two pieces of their former treasure back to their village, but Godzilla was exhausted by his battle. He returned to his Mother Ocean, to rest and recover. And from there he waits the ages ready to spring to his people's defense if their need is true."

* * *

5.1 - The Intro to the Multiverse, courtesy of Twilight Sparkle. As a side note, this is pre-Crash.

5.2 - I was in a Jeopardy! mood that day. On that note, you're wondering why Mewtwo is here, aren't you?

5.3 - Mewtwo's first meeting with the other one from the Genesect Movie didn't go so well…

5.4 - Mewtwo's first Loop. How he got from there to how he was in the previous two snips will be revealed some time later. Don't have a good estimate when.

5.5 - Just to clarify, there's no breaking of the Fourth Wall. Oshawott's just a Meta Guy.

5.6 - Because apparently that's a thing somewhere. Not sure where.

5.7 - Chimchar/Monferno/Infernape's First Loop after the Dio Incident.

5.8 - We were going to have a Touhoumon Loop eventually. It was inevitable.

5.9 - Apparently, Ash enjoyed using this with Arceus one Loop. He especially liked making Giovanni suffer.

5.10 - Pokaiju! Because why the hell not!


	6. Chapter 6

6.1 (Crisis)

"Who's this, Pikachu?" Ash smirked. "You get a girlfriend and not tell me?"

"Yuk it up, you," Pikachu groused as his unexpected admirer nuzzled him affectionately. Dang it, that was supposed to have only been for that one lonely variant! She wasn't supposed to have started Looping!

"Eevui!" Pikachu's female friend chirped happily.

* * *

6.2 (Kalimaru)

Ash smiled, using a large stick to push his gondola down the flooded streets of Lumiose City. Off key, he began singing some dead tune or other about pasta.

Sitting in the gondola, Pikachu put his face in his paws and sighed. He just couldn't bring himself to tell Ash that Lumiose was supposed to be the equivalent of Paris, not Venice.

* * *

6.3 (Crisis)

Pikachu cursed. He just couldn't seem to get away from Eevee in the Loops lately! He couldn't tell her no either. One look at that face starting to tear up and every protest died in his throat. And what was worse this time...

"Well, I give you my blessing!" Red did his best to sound like a proud paternal figure and not laugh his butt off at this development. "Remember to treat her well! If you don't..."

Pikachu sweatdropped nervously as Eevee cuddled him happily and wondered where Red had learned such an ominous demon head illusion. It had to be at least a 13 on the Soun Tendo scale...

* * *

6.4 (AbZHz101)

Charizard's usual Awaking point was rather annoying for the Fire Type. Why couldn't he Wake up with Ash or just after Damian left him to die? It would be less of a pain than constantly having to wake up to a hunger-induced head-splitting headache. Grumbling about having the worst luck Charizard tried to push himself off the rock. The operative word being "tried." Such endeavors always went better when one had limbs. As Charizard tried to figure out what had happened his Loop Memories, kicked in. ...Well, this would make for an interesting change. He was a Dratini.

* * *

"{Remind me,}" Pikachu said as he, Ash, and the now Dragonair dodged their way through a gauntlet of Dragon type attacks. "{How did we get into this situation again?}"

"{Damian is apart of the Dragon Tamer Clan this variant,}" the Pokémon who was normally a Fire Type replied. "{I was _supposed_ be his partner, but the Loop changed his family, not his personality. After we embarrassed him and left, I guess he went running home and lied his tongue off.}" The now Dragon Type ducked a Hyper Beam and shot back a Dragonbreath at a Druddigon that left itself open, stunning the other dragon temporarily. "{The Clan thought that you guys had stolen me or something, but when I defended you they started to get suspicious and now we're doing the trials that a junior Clan member is supposed to do with their partner in order to be recognized as an adult.}" Pikachu fired off a rather large Thunderbolt that broke into five smaller ones, forcing some of the Dragons to dive for cover giving them some breathing room. "{We win, we stay together, Ash becomes an honorary member, and Damian probably gets banished or something like that. We do well, but lose... guess it would be up to if we impressed the Elders or some crap like that.}"

"{And we haven't used any Out-of-Loop powers because we don't want them to think that we cheated, as that kind of thing is what got us into this mess in the first place,}" Pikachu sighed wearily. Tests of honor were annoying. They were nearing the end when a Dragonite stepped out in front of them and charged a Hyper Beam, aiming at Ash! Charizard and Pikachu both leapt into action. Charizard tried to absorb the hit, but was surprised when he was thrown back. Pikachu having anticipated this, as he had made the same mistake charged an Iron Tail and deflected the rest of the blast away from their Trainer.

"Dragonair!" Ash called out, more on reflex than concern, Charizard often inflicted far more damage on himself without even flinching.

"{Ow,}" the now Dragonair grunted, "{Okay, note to self: Standing your ground works infinitely better **when you have legs!**}" Somehow, the Dragonite was setting up another attack! Charizard was really mad now. Objectively, some part of him realized that this was probably an engineered scenario to see how far the Pokémon would go for the Trainer. Most of him really didn't care and the rest suggested to his rational side that if such was the case, listening to his emotions and treating it like a genuine threat would be the correct response. Again the Dragonite sent a Hyper Beam at Ash, and again his Pokémon put themselves in the way. This time though, unseen against the beam of light, the current Dragon type was glowing white.

Dragonair faltered, but then _Dragonite_ dug his new feet into the rocky earth, tried to grab the raw energy with his claws, _somehow succeeded_, and used Dragon Claw to _tear an energy attack to shreds_. Then the now fully-evolved Pokémon launched himself forward at nearing supersonic speed and started swinging at the Clan Dragonite.

As if bored, the other Pokémon sidestepped the Looper's swings. "{Why do you try so hard?}" the old Dragonite asked.

"{Because, Ash is _my Trainer!_}" the Looper roared, swinging at the older Pokémon with all his might.

The older Dragonite smirked and caught the attack by the wrist. Then the smirk bloomed into a full-fledged smile. "{A good, honest answer. You pass.}"

* * *

6.5 (zeusdemigod313)

Misty hummed to herself as she made her way to where she usually found Togepi's egg. Misty had taken to getting the egg as soon as possible every Loop, which somehow or another lead to the Egg Pokémon hatching sooner, but once the Gym leader made it to the spot where the egg was normally found she was confused to find nothing there.

Granted, they were only a few months into the Loop but the egg was normally there by now.

As Misty wondered whether something had happened or if this was just a variant she noticed something, a single plate laid half buried in the ground, Misty grabbed the plate and dusted it off, thinking it was some old artifact they just hadn't noticed before. Once she dusted it off however, her eyes widened in surprise. The object in her hand looked like one of Arceus' plates but it didn't look like any she was familiar with, it was a plain rectangle, egg shell white, with no other tell tale features whatsoever.

"Maybe Sound-types are a thing again?" She wondered, remembering the few odd variants where new types cropped up. That was when she felt the temperature drop.

When Misty had arrived in the valley it had been sunny and there hadn't been a cloud in the sky. Now, the sky had darkened and the clouds above roared with thunder.

"Starting to think this isn't going to be normal." Misty sighed.

The Cerulean Gym Leader watched as a golden orb descended from the clouds and began to head straight for her. Misty was worried at first but calmed down once the object slowed, coming to an almost complete stop in front of her.

Misty took a few tentative steps forward to examine the object. It looked like a Pokemon egg, pure white with a golden ring encircling its center, and it was surrounded by a golden aura.

As Misty got closer to the egg she felt the plate in her hand begin to pull towards it, once she let go the artifact shot towards the egg and was absorbed into it.

"Is this...?" Misty began, she was interrupted as something else shot past her head and into the egg, followed by another and another and another. Misty counted eighteen in total, including the plate she had found.

At this point Misty had an idea of what was going on but wasn't sure until the egg began to-

*CRACK*

Misty held her arm up to cover her eyes as the egg exploded outwards in a blast of gold, temporarily blinding the Looper, when she could finally see again Misty was almost shocked to see a tiny Arceus standing amongst the remains of the shattered egg sniffing at the remains of its former home. Misty had never actually seen a baby Arceus before but she had heard the legends about him hatching from an egg.

_'So this Loop he has some kind of heir or reincarnation thing?'_ Misty thought to herself. Then the Arceus looked up at her, smiled, and happily chirped. "{Misty!}" Before leaping into her arms. Despite being a newborn and only being the size of a Bulbasaur, Misty was knocked to the ground as the Alpha Pokemon leapt into her arms and began nuzzling her affectionately.

Misty fell more from shock than anything else. "T... Togepi?" She asked in disbelief. The giggle the little Legendary let out was more than enough to confirm it.

_'Togepi is a god,'_ Misty thought to herself, now beginning to panic. _'And we're only a few months into the Loop!'_

* * *

6.6 (Inkweaver22)

"Oh? Did you pick up something little guy?" Red asked his Zigzagoon. He was in a game variant and the only one Awake at the moment.

"Zig!" The small raccoon dropped a dead Taillow near Red's feet.

_[Red got the Leftovers!]_

* * *

6.7 (Lord Circe)

Sora jumped backward to land on his bed with a sigh. In the cockpit, Donald steered the Gummi ship away from the latest world, while Goofy showed their two newest guests around.

"...and here's where I almost stepped on Chip and Dale when we past through a, whatchamacallit, nebula, and everything went dark. I baked them a cake, but it kind of exploded in the oven. Ahyuk!"

Sora stretched and sat up on the bed, just as Pikachu jumped up on the edge of Sora's mattress. "Man, that was a good world."

Pikachu scowled a bit. "I'm glad you think so. You aren't the internationally renowned criminal, reviled by all those you hold dear."

"Haven't you pulled the evil mastermind bit like half a dozen times by now?" Ash spoke up from where he was poking at the wall of the ship.

"Twenty three," Pikachu grumbled, "but I was never the sidekick."

Sora laughed. "Yeah, I guess so. I'm just glad that I didn't have to beat you two up or anything."

Pikachu sniffed. "You could have tried."

Sora rolled his eyes and laid back again. "Where are we headed next?" He shouted towards the cockpit.

"I dun know! Stop askhing!" Donald shouted back. While sometimes they could plot a decent course between worlds, other times it was more up to chance where they ended up.

Pikachu stretched, before laying down next to Sora. "So, explain to me again how the Keyblade makes my lightning different. I can't feel anything different, and the Heartless seem to explode the same way either way."

"It has to do with hearts. When you blow up the Heartless normally, their hearts are still trapped in darkness, so their bodies can reform. If you use a Keyblade, or are fighting together while linked to someone holding a Keyblade, you are able to free their hearts and keep the Heartless from reforming again."

"Huh. Well, I still can't feel a difference. Though that makes me wonder what effect a Time Flute might have on a Heartless, what with hearts in shadow and all of that. Ash, do you still have one in your pocket? I don't think I ever grabbed one."

*Squeak*

Blinking, Sora and Pikachu turned to look at Ash, who was currently gnawing on the corner of the Gummi Ship. Ash glanced at them, before delicately stepping away from the wall, coughing twice into his hand. "Um, no. No, I gave my last copy to Anakin. He was going to try to use it to start a clone rebellion or something."

"Bwahahahaha! Bwapikakakaka!" Pikachu rolled off the bed, reverting back to Pokespeek as he lost himself to laughter. Ash frowned.

"Oh, like you haven't thought about trying it."

Sora shook his head, only for Goofy to poke his head back in. "Yeah, like the time you and the Caterpillar wandered off in Wonderland, and you came back and ate off one of the wings. Lucky Donald had a spare."

Sora frowned, as Pikachu rolled over and started pounding on the floor with laughter.

* * *

_Meanwhile, back on Kanto..._

Meowth snickered as he discreetly took another photo of his team and their leader this Loop. He knew it was a Fused Loop and all, and even as scary as his memories of the Twerp and Rat as villains were, it didn't take away from the hilarity of the scene in front of him.

"Alleycat, keep up. The Soot Soldier and Joltrat could be hiding out anywhere around here." Jessie, or rather, Miss Hiss called out. She was dressed up in skintight costume, decorated with a snakeskin pattern and donning a vibrant purple mask. Next to her, James was dressed up as Smokey, in a coal black uniform, with a dark blue mask and a rather impractical scarf wrapped around his neck. He peered around worriedly.

"Do you really think they'll be back? That blast of light was big." James sounded nervous, which was understandable, given the ruin that the Twerp and Rat had made of Saffron City before Awakening. That weird kid Sora had shown up and they had all staged a battle or something (Meowth hadn't exactly got a chance to chat with them about it), which ended with "Soot Soldier" and "Joltrat" getting banished in a big ball of light.

"One can never be too cautious." A figure dropped from the rooftop where he had been scanning the skyline. Meowth hastily snapped one more shot before dropping his camera into his subspace pocket as Giovanni stepped forward into the light. He was dressed in a bright purple costume, with a pair of wings extending along the bottom of his arms, and a mask stylized to look like a Zubat's ears and mouth.

"Come, Miss Hiss, Smokey, Alleycat. Though we owe the Keyblade wielder our thanks for stopping our enemies, Soot Soldier and Joltrat, we can not let down our guard. Evil never sleeps, after all."

"Yes, Zubatman!" Jessie and James spoke in unison, while Meowth bit his lips to keep from laughing.

* * *

6.8 (jxz)

"Come on, Come on... NO!" Hephaestus threw his beer to the screen, which was blocked by the spells of Madoka and Homura combined.

"I told you not to bet everything on Optimus, especially as he was fighting Pikachu, Charizard and the three Anchors of the PMD sub-branch." Hermes said.

"I know, I know..." The forging god said, as he saw Hathor in the floor, as her two main Anchors and their friends were defeated at once by Mewtwo. "I swear, If I get the one who put every Looper on the Pokemon Branches in one entire army, they will feel my hammer like I'm Thor."

"That was you," Homura said. "You said you wanted to see what would happen if every Looper in the Pokemon Branches were Awake and teamed against the other Loopers," As she said that, the god shrank himself in shame, as the screen showed Ash, Red, Sapphire and May sending the Ninja Turtles flying, and Team Rocket kicking the other Puella Magi's asses. "And I lost my bet too. By the way, who betted for Pikachu and his team?"

Everybody saw Sleipnir and Loki, both picking the money/favors from the other Admins. The horse looked at the other Gods. "What? My Loopers aren't there, so it's no use betting for them right now."

"And your excuse, Loki?" Inari asked.

The mother of the horse-spider-god shrugged his arms. "I like the little yellow rat."

* * *

6.9 (Jcogginsa)

"You sure you wanna do this, Pikachu? You're quick, but this is gonna need stamina," Sonic asked the little yellow mouse. This was one of those loops where a ton of different Loopers were gathered together. Most were chatting or playing cards, but a few of the speedier Loopers had decided to do something they'd been meaning to do for a while. Have a Race.

"It's no problem; I had a Loop a while back where Pokémon races replaced Pokémon battles. I can handle myself." Pikachu replied

"If you say so," Sonic replied, as he and Pikachu took their places on the starting line. Ahead of them, Ranma in his girl form shouted out, "Okay, the rules are simple. When I say go, ya zoom off. It's a simple once over around the world, first to make it back to the line from the other side wins. Now then, if ya need to get yourself revved up for top speed, ya got 30 seconds!"

Lightning McQueen revved his engines, Rainbow Dash took a stance and ascended, Sonic summoned up his Super Form, and Wally West ate 12 mini-corndogs. As for Pikachu, electricity began to crackle around him, like he was using Volt Tackle but standing still. He began to hover 3 inches of the ground.

"GO!" shouted Ranma at the top of her lungs. Pikachu shot forward, going 10 times escape velocity.

Dash and Sonic passed him nigh instantly, and Wally passed all 3 of them 10 seconds later when he stopped eating and started running. Still, at least he beat Lightning.

* * *

6.10 (AbZHz101)

Charizard appeared in a flash of light on center stage. He could see opposite him was a Charmander and behind the Pokémon was the Ash-act-alike. Now they were back at Indigo Plateau. He could see the Charmander shaking, throwing the him off his game. From what he had remembered he had never actually even hit his opponent last time, it had been more of a comedy routine as it ran back and forth across the stage fleeing from his Flamethrowers. And when the Pikachu with the weird haircut had come with the same look in his eye... it hadn't had any chance of being a battle and this was shaping up to be as embarrassing. The referee said go but his "opponent" continued to shiver. He really couldn't let this go on. Crossing his arms, he growled at the Charmander, "{Wow, I didn't think that you held your trainer in such little regard.}" That got the reaction he was looking for, the Charmander recoiled as if struck.

"{Wh-what?}"

"{Look around you. People and Pokémon have gathered from all of Kanto and maybe beyond to watch this event. You represent your trainer, you show just how skilled he is. How he reacts when things are going wrong. If I remember right earlier today your trainer was one of the main reason that a large scale theft was averted, and here you are _embarrassing him_ because I'm _bigger than you_. What the hell do you think that says about him if you are willing to let yourself be intimidated by size? Do you think that if you were being attacked by a rampaging Gyarados, he would just sit back quaking in his shoes? If you respect your trainer at all, you'll fight me with your whole heart!}"

The Charmander hesitantly looked around the and then back to his trainer. "Zippo?" the boy asked. It was then that a change came over the little Pokémon, and the atmosphere changed. Zippo now had a glint in his eye, Charizard was positively beaming, and the two trainers looked like they were about to burst into happiness. "Go get him, Zippo!"

"{You got it, Richie!}" the tiny Pokémon replied. "{I won't lose,}" Zippo stated to Charizard a feral grin forming on his face.

"{Well, then this will be interesting, because I won't lose either!}" Charizard replied with a matching visage. Then Zippo charged the larger Pokémon. The Charmander did his best to make use of his smaller form and theoretical speed advantage, dodging and running to avoid Charizard's flames while looking for an opening. He spotted one and leapt for it, only to realize mid-leap that it had been a feint as he was swatted away. "{Good effort,}" Charizard noted.

"{_I'm not done!_}" Zippo declared as a white light surrounded his form. Zippo evolved into Charmeleon! The now Stage 1 Pokémon rushed again at the Stage 2. It was the same dance only this time Zippo was becoming slightly singed not only because he wasn't used to his increased size but the changes to his Speed and Evasion. Zippo knew that if things kept up this way he'd lose for sure. So he gambled on getting a lucky hit and charged straight through Charizard's Flamethrower.

Unfortunately, Charizard was well versed in that particular gambit and knocked the Charmeleon skyward with his tail. Zippo tried to tumble in midair to land on his feet but his body wouldn't respond. He watched as the ground rushed toward his head, more annoyed with himself than anything else. About a foot from the ground though, there was a sharp jerk in his tail. Surprised, he stared at the strange sight of an upside-down Charizard face wearing a head-splitting grin. "{Good fight. Find me again when you have the technique to back up that heart of yours, our rematch will shake _mountains_! Oh, and one more thing... next time, don't hide it.}"

"{Yeah, agreed,}" Zippo responded with a smile before he was engulfed in a red light.

* * *

After the match Ash congratulated his Pokémon, "You know, I didn't think you were one for inspirational speeches, Charizard."

Charizard blinked. "{Oh, that's because I'm not... I heard you guys mentioning how the kid seemed to be like a clone with different colored hair so I just took something from one of Pikachu's pre-tournament speeches, since I figured he'd probably react the same way we usually do.}"

"It was Johto," Pikachu stated smugly.

"{Are you sure? Because they all seem to run together for the rest of us.}"

"Watch it, Hothead," Pikachu playfully growled.

"{Anytime after the tournament, Rodent. Bring it,}" Charizard replied in kind.

* * *

6.11 (AbZHz101)

As Team GoGetters cheered and completed their first major mission since the addition of their strange Squirtle teammate, they and the clients felt a strong breeze. Inexplicably it drew the Rescuers' attention skyward, and gave them the feeling of _safety_. "Hey, everything alright?" the local Pikachu called out.

"Ah," Charmander replied, Pikachu's voice breaking the spell. "Everything's alright." Almost as one the three took one last look at the sky then began to walk with the two brothers back toward Pokémon Square.

Meanwhile, on the far side of a nearby mountain peak a Charizard lightly touched down. In front of him was a rather dark cave, though one that usually had no connection to the tunnels under the mountain range, but then again, Mystery Dungeon, so who knew? He calmly strode into the darkness, keeping his tail flame behind him, anything that might want to harm him didn't have the power and the Pokémon that could hurt him generally didn't want to. After he had walked a far enough distance that his light didn't illuminate the path to the entrance he caught sight of his target. "Well, I'll say this: they're wet behind the ears, in way over their heads... and they're going to change the world. But then, we already knew that, eh, Blastoise?" There was the sound of heavy footfalls as a Blastoise stepped into the light.

The Water type nodded. "It's good to see that our presence so far does not seem to have affected their journey." Even though shadows hid the actual event, Charizard knew that his friend's eye had grown misty. "Even though we can solve all their problems before they occur, how would that aid them? How would they grow? We have had and taken many chances to be the Heroes, they have only but this one... And it's always good to remember where you come from, if only to more easily see where you've been and more importantly where you are going."

"I hope that is not a veiled attempt to abandon them I hear," a third, feminine voice rang sharply from the dark, as Meganium stepped forward.

"To abandon anyone would be to abandon my pride as a Rescue Team Leader," Blastoise replied. "I was merely reminding myself aloud that we must take a more laissez-faire approach in this endeavor, lest we accidentally spoil what we are trying to nurture." Meganium merely glared. "Do you not trust me?"

"Need I remind you," Meganium's sharp retort struck. "That the two of you _set fire_ to a river, which then caused the ocean in which it ran to _ignite_?! And how _that caused all the water in the atmosphere to come ablaze_?! _You two morons burned a planet to a **crisp** in under thirty minutes! HOW IS IT THAT YOU TWO WERE BRILLIANT ENOUGH TO CREATE A CATALYST TO REVERSE A COMBUSTION REACTION AT HIGH TEMPERATURE AND NOT HAVE ENOUGH **COMMON SENSE** TO **REALIZE** WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU EVER** USED** IT?!"_

As the two males winced at all the right times as their female teammate got into full "Rant Mode" Blastoise whispered to his partner, "So how many vials of Fire Water Catalyst do we have left after filling our order?"

"We picked a Plum from off of the Roof," Charizard replied before wincing again. Blastoise knew the reference to a high-scoring Mahjong hand, they had just finished five vials and got them to safety before the last reset.

_"ARE YOU TWO IGNORING ME?"_ Meganium shouted. If it weren't for the fact that Blastoise had long ago learned that he could never win against a female in the throes of "Righteous Fury" he might have said yes to wind her up. Also as they had told her to take that Loop off for a vacation and this was their first Loop together after that... They probably deserved this.

"Of course not," Blastoise said, as both he and Charizard had been keeping one ear on Meganium's rant to check if she had noticed their small conversation. Thankfully, it seemed as if she hadn't.

"So then, what is this plan of yours?" Meganium asked in a voice that promised pain if he tried to be a smart alec or hadn't tried to think his plan through.

"I was actually thinking that we set up an unofficial base of operations close to the other side of the continent, perhaps by Mt. Freeze..." Blastoise said with a smirk. "I said unofficial because a Team GoGetters already exists with the same Identification number as what our badges use. And I cannot imagine calling ourselves anything else, and I don't think either of you could. At the same time we would be one of the few Pokémon with the power and drive to head off the natural disasters in that part of the continent. By the time most of the standard Rescue Teams would be able to get there the disaster would have long since passed as would most of the chances for relief efforts or body retrieval... We know that the general area near the Square is in good hands, we're a Rescue Team. I say we head to where we will be most effective."

"And what of our Baseline selves?" Meganium asked tightly. While she felt deeply about being able to help as many as possible, she could never be the kind of Pokémon that didn't help someone when she knew they were in trouble because doing so might help more in the future.

"I do not remember any even semi-permanent shops out that way," Blastoise replied. "It is likely that we will constantly be having to dole out supplies of food to those we aid, and if we have no steady source of crops, for which none of us has the time to tend, then we will have to purchase what we will give. That will mean that we will most likely become semi-frequent visitors to the Square. It is more than probable that we will encounter them on such an errand, and Pokémon their age always see to unintentionally pester travelers for stories and advice. I do not see why we should not give it."

* * *

Charizard landed lightly on the cliff south of the Square. The three Loopers of Team GoGetters had all spread out to handle their tasks more efficiently. Meganium was looking for a good patch of land that would serve their purposes and that they could buy. Blastoise was looking for materials and contractors. Which meant that he had to deal with the team's accounts, or in this case, the creation there of. The Fire type calmly walked past the currently unopened Makuhita Dojo, and to the Southern edge of the Square Proper. It was still rather early in the day, and as such Rescue Teams were reviewing and preparing for the jobs that would be undertaken that day. Rather impressively, he slipped through the crowd of Rescue Pokémon, managing to keep their attention off of him for the most part as he made his way to his first destination, Kangaskhan Storage.

As he stepped up to the stall he put a socially acceptable smile on, enough to be pleasant but not overly familiar. "Welcome to Kankaskh-" the matron of the establishment began to rattle off before stopping, staring at Charizard in surprise.

Before he could ask her what was wrong, another voice gave him an approximate answer. "Hi, Auntie- Dad?!" his baseline self asked. Charizard jerked around in response, shock written on his face. "Eh, heh, heh, sorry about that..."Charmander chuckled nervously, his body language reading "I'm so dead."

Imperceptibly, Charizard shook himself. "No, that's alright," he covered quickly. "If I met a stranger who had as strong a family resemblance as we do I'd be surprised too." He subtly accented certain worlds like "stranger" to imply distance between the two of them, as technically they weren't related or at least not in a way that there were pre-prepared words for. He added a gentle smile in an attempt to break up any tension, as he silently thought, _'Did I always sound like I had a cold?'_

"Eh, I don't see it," Squirtle mumbled.

The former human didn't expect to be heard so he wasn't expecting Chikorita's "Hush!" or the accompanying light hip check to the ribs.

Neither of them were expecting Charizard to notice the by-play and act on it. He turned to the Basic Fire type in front of Auntie Kangaskhan's stall, lips already forming a smirk. "Your friend hasn't seen many from our line I take it?"

"Uh, no," Charmander answered meekly. "You'd be the second one that he's seen."

"Oh? Is he from some off-continent colony?" Auntie Kangaskhan asked. Internally, Charizard swore, able to see where this was going. This was supposed to be easy! Go in, sign some documents, get back to the others! Not accidentally force some of his friend's baseline-self's secrets out into the open!

"Er, no," Charmander replied again. "Actually, we have no idea where he's from. I found him passed out in the forest the other day. The only thing he could remember was thinking that he was a human for some odd reason! I was going to bring him back to the Square, but then Butterfree flew by worried about Caterpie. I didn't think we had time to go back to the Square so I had to take him in with me. Turns out he was a lot better at handling Mystery Dungeons than I gave him credit for. Afterwards, Chikorita and I went asking around to see if anyone had heard about a missing Squirtle and nothing's come up yet. So Chikorita suggested that we have him join the team in hopes that someone would recognize him. Even knowing how good he was in Tiny Woods we've been surprised at just how much help he's been."

Kangaskhan frowned, not exactly happy that Charmander had taken such a risk with a Pokémon he barely knew, but it seemed to have worked out for the best. "I'll keep an ear out, alright?" she stated more than asked to Squirtle.

Uh, yeah," he responded, clearly uncomfortable. He searched around for something to change the topic to and before he really knew what he was asking he blurted out, "I mean I get that he's probably at _least_ in the high eighties, but how's that supposed to tell how you're related to somebody?" he said motioning to Charizard. The Stage 2 felt like bashing his skull against the pavement, but refrained if only because then it would give away that he knew more than he should, however this was quickly replaced by the realization that his friend could tell the levels of other Pokémon during baseline. The others alternated between stared between the two. "Oh, that's not normal, is it?" There was a synchronized shaking of the heads of every naturally born Pokémon present.

Then, Kangaskhan turned to Charizard. "I realize it's not considered polite, however I am curious how accurate the boy was."

"Can't say, ma'am," Charizard replied sheepishly. "I haven't had myself checked in quite a while now." All technically true... and the fact that Looping tended to do weird things to the level system.

Kangaskhan frowned, and Charizard felt a jolt of fear run down his spine, as if he had just failed some sort of test. "Still, that's a rare talent that he has," she said. As she did so, she stepped out from behind the stall and in front of the group, "We at least should check its accuracy." Then she stood calmly in front of the group. "So Squirtle, what level do you think I am?" a small challenge in her voice.

"Hmm..." Squirtle replied getting a good look at the matron of Kangaskhan Storage for the first time. "That's weird," he muttered just loud enough for everyone else to hear. "I'm getting two numbers... can you go down levels?" The disbelief in his voice was obvious. Shaking his head he responded, "Sorry, but I'm getting two numbers for some odd reason. I figure that you know level fifty skills, but you have around level thirty stats," he replied with a disgruntled sigh.

To his surprise, Auntie Kangaskhan simply started laughing, "I shouldn't be so surprised. I knew I had lost a step or two between a couple of clutches and standing behind the stall, but I thought I had kept myself in better shape than that!"

Squirtle blinked. "Wait... So I was right?"

As Kangaskhan nodded, Chikorita jumped in, "So you were on a Rescue team?" Both elder Pokémon noticed that she hadn't completely unintentionally addressed them** both** with that particular question.

"Actually, Rescue Teams are more a recent thing," Kangaskhan replied. "Before all these natural disasters became so commonplace it wasn't all that unusual for Pokémon to travel 'round the continent in search of an adventure. I had quite a run in my day, but eventually I'd had my fun. I wondered what I could do and constantly thought about how annoying it had been to carry all my things with me, and let's not even get started on bad days where just nothing goes your way and you end up out cold for hours on end and some opportunist just **waltzes** by and takes all your stuff without lending a helping hand. And I realize that being a Kangaskhan, I had it better in the storage capacity department than most. So I set up my stall and when Adventurers started banding together into Rescue Teams, every shop keep in town threw their full support behind them. It's good work that you young'uns do, and don't let anybody ever tell you different!"

After Kangaskhan had finished Charizard felt four sets of wondering eyes and one more calculating set fall on him. "Eh, sorry, maybe in another timeline," he said with a cheesy smile. "Actually, I was here because some friends and I found ourselves locked on continent for an indeterminate amount of time and we were hoping to make use of your services," he said directing the last part at Kangaskhan.

Oh, are we keeping you from your business?" Chikorita asked slightly horrified.

As Charizard tried to placate the young Rescue Team, Kangaskhan told him in a voice that was slightly too sweet, "I'll get the papers for you. Be back in a tick."She jovially pulled her youngest child out and stage whispered, "Keep an eye on them for me, will ya?"

"No, it's alright. We're just getting ourselves settled at the moment," Charizard said to Chikorita. His eyes flickered over to Auntie Kangaskhan as he gave a quick "Thank you," before reengaging the younger Pokémon. "So we're all spread out at the moment. Meganium is looking at land available for sale and negotiating with the owners," the Stage 2 mentioned.

"Does that mean that you're moving near here?" Charmander asked. His older self could guess at the reason. He had a big case of Hero Worship when it came to members of his evolution line. He had gotten better at keeping it in check as he got older but it had never really gone away.

Kangaskhan had found what she had needed, but feigned continuing to search, hoping to figure out what this Charizard's game was. "Eh, probably further out," Charizard answered, embarrassed. "We're all Stage 2 so we can afford to trade some safety for cash." He shrugged. "But there are still things we need to do here."

"So what are the others doing, if that's not too impolite?" Squirtle wondered.

"Well, there's only three of us,"Charizard started. "And you already know what Meganium and I are doing. Blastoise is checking the prices for contractors and materials. We can't do much more on that front because we aren't sure what plots are available. And each of them would require different amounts of work to make a safe, habitable place." Charizard's lips quirked up, "It also keeps him from signing anything, which is good because... well," he leaned down and whispered in a conspiratorial manner, "**No one** can read what he writes!" Team GoGetters and the Auntie's youngest all began to laugh. "No, I'm serious, I haven't met a Pokémon that wasn't him that's been able to make heads or tails of what he writes down unless we help them first! And then, when we ask him what the heck he put down he goes and completely changes his style, it's maddening! But if you persevere and ask him one more time he'll give you something that vaguely **approximates** something that looks like what most Pokémon know."

While younger Pokémon were laughing Charizard looked at where Auntie Kangaskhan was. "Uh, I've also got to do the same thing with the... I believe Persian?" he asked even though he knew that Persian **did** in fact run the bank. "If they're that hard to find I can come back," he offered.

The words snapped, Kangaskhan out of her thoughts. "Ah, here are the forms, sir," Kangaskhan said, reentering the conversation.

"Thank you," Charizard replied pleasantly. The young Team GoGetters somewhat shuffled around awkwardly before making to leave. "You know," Charizard spoke up while his head was still in the forms, "none of us are exactly farmers or herders, so at least one of us should be stopping by about once a week." Charizard left the unspoken invitation hanging as the three Pokémon left to complete their missions for the day.

"You know, I've kept this stall for years," Auntie Kangaskhan said aloud as if she was reminiscing. "I watched two of those kids since they were freshly hatched, knew their parents real well too." Only someone who was listening for it would notice how her voice was gradually starting to get darker, more menacing. "You know, when I first saw you I thought that little Charmander had gone and evolved twice during their last mission, and worried about just what could have forced that. But then, there he was perfectly fine and still a Charmander. Every sense I have _knows_ that you are that kid's blood, and I _know_ that his parents had never had a clutch before his, nor one after. I can guess how your _friends_ look too." Then, she leaned in close and whispered in his ear, "I don't know _what_ you are, but if any harm comes to those kids,_** I will end you**_." Then she returned to her normal position and tone and chirped, "Everything seems to be in order, have a nice day."

As Charizard walked away he felt the conflicting feelings of a chill down his spine at being threatened, and a fire in his heart that Auntie Kangaskhan had been watching out for him that much as a child.

* * *

6.1 - That would be Vee, Red's Eevee by the way. Yes, we know Vee is canonically male, but it's funnier this way.

6.2 - Ash thinks so too, which is why he's reenacting the Spaghetti scene from Lady and the Tramp.

6.3 - Red thinks so too.

6.4 - Now Charizard really IS a dragon. This will help him when he uses his X Mega Evolution.

6.5 - Togepi with the powers of Arceus. You are right to be afraid.

6.6 - Because we freaked out about Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, and I mentioned that in my first Pokemon game (Ruby version, by the way), I had a Zigzagoon on my team. That thing ended up as a Level 93 Linoone.

6.7 - Nananananana, Zubatman!

6.8 - Why does Loki like Pikachu? I have no idea myself. I should probably ask.

6.9 - Sonic claims he let Wally win. Whether or not that is the case is heavily debated between the speedier Loopers.

6.10 - Charizard's First Loop: Final Part. This is how Charizard fights when he isn't trying to grievously injure and/or kill the opponent.

6.11 - Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team's First Mini-me Loop. These are a constant throughout the Looping universes where the Looping Memories of a Looper get incarnated as a separate body while the baseline versions of them are doing their baseline things.


End file.
